| CHICAGO MERCANTILE EXCHANGE, INC. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20130124390 | Order Risk Management for Financial Product Processing - Systems and methods are provided for processing derivative product orders at an exchange. Traders provide derivative product order risk data to the exchange. The order risk data may include maximum delta, gamma and/or vega utilization values for derivative product contracts based on the same underlying product. Before executing a trade, a match system analyzes the trader's current utilization state and the utilization that would result after the trade. The match system may then execute all or a portion of the trade. | 05-16-2013 |
| 20130124389 | System and Method for Settling Trades - A method of settling trades includes the steps of obtaining an authenticated delivery instrument, wherein the authenticated delivery instrument is authenticated by a first exchange and may be used to settle a trade undertaken on the first exchange. An electronic proxy is issued for the delivery instrument, wherein the electronic proxy may be exchanged for the authenticated delivery instrument and where the electronic proxy is used to settle a trade undertaken on a second exchange. | 05-16-2013 |
| 20130124388 | Derivatives Trading Methods That Use a Variable Order Price and a Hedge Transaction - Systems and methods are provided for executing a hedge transaction in connection with the execution of a derivative product order in which the price of the derivative product is defined by one or more variables. The hedge transaction may be executed at an exchange or match engine that is different from the exchange or match engine executing the derivative product order. The execution of derivative product transaction may be contingent on the existence of an appropriate hedge transaction. Alternatively, a best efforts approach may be used to fill the hedge transaction order after executing the derivative product transaction. | 05-16-2013 |
| 20130124383 | TBA Futures Contracts and Central Counterparty Clearing of TBA - Networks, systems and methods that match orders for TBA futures and settle and clear open positions for TBA futures are disclosed. The TBA futures may include MBS TBA future contracts. A central counterparty clearing firm may net long and short positions and generate delivery instructions to parties having open positions. | 05-16-2013 |
| 20130124380 | Template Based Matching - Systems and methods for matching orders are provided. One or more trade templates are created. The trade templates define groups of orders for financial instruments that may be combined such that all of the orders are matched. New orders and resting orders are analyzed using one or more trade templates to determine whether a combination of orders satisfies all of the elements of a trade template. When all of the elements of a trade template are satisfied, the corresponding orders may be matched contemporaneously. | 05-16-2013 |
| 20130117197 | Determination of a Size of a Credit Default Swap Guaranty Fund - A system for determining an amount of a guaranty fund to cover mutual systemic risk of loss among a plurality of entities trading credit default swap (“CDS”) instruments using a central counterparty, such as the CME, is disclosed. The disclosed embodiments relate to a system and method for calculating a value, i.e. the size or magnitude, such as in dollars, of a CDS guaranty fund, such as more optimal size thereof, e.g. a size more reflective of the true risk, or each member's contribution thereto, thereby reducing or minimizing the burden on participants while adequately ensuring that risks are covered. The disclosed embodiments utilize a generalized approach to avoid too many risk scenarios while still accounting for all relevant possible portfolio constructions. | 05-09-2013 |
| 20130117171 | Relational Order Pricing Data for Interdependent Exchange-Traded Contracts - Prices for instances of an exchange-traded contract type can be submitted using one or more of at least two types of order pricing data. Explicit order pricing data may specify a price for one or more contracts in a first manner, e.g., by explicitly stating a specific amount of currency. Relational order pricing data may provide information that permits determination of prices for contracts based on other data. | 05-09-2013 |
| 20130117169 | Zero Coupon Conversion Factor Calculation - The disclosed embodiments relate to a system which calculates a conversion factor (CF) based upon a zero percent (0%) futures contract standard. The zero percent futures contract standard may be used in the context of futures or forwards based upon coupon bearing debt securities including Treasuries, Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS), agencies, corporates, municipals, or any fixed income security. The system also facilitates listing, trading, and settlement of an interest rate futures contract that sets forth such a zero percent futures contract standard. The system may be configured for both interest rate futures contracts utilizing a nonzero percent futures contract standard and interest rate futures contract utilizing a zero percent futures contract standard. The system may be configured to calculate an invoice amount for the interest rate futures contract to be paid in exchange for the delivery of the one of the set of eligible interest rate or debt securities and instruments. | 05-09-2013 |
| 20130103566 | Out of Band Credit Control - Systems and method for mediating risks associated with orders in an electronic trading system are provided. A front end component includes a plurality of trading engines that receive orders from traders. A back-end component includes a match system. The system includes a credit control module, which may be located at the back-end (e.g., clearinghouse), front end, a combination thereof, or other location that communicates with the plurality of trading engines. The credit control may monitor aggregate risk parameters for the trading engines and requests credits from trading engines. | 04-25-2013 |
| 20130080533 | Distribution of Market Data - Systems and methods are provided for communicating and processing market data. The market data may comprise quotes, orders, trades and/or statistics. A messaging structure allows for adding, re-ordering and/or expanding data, within the printable character set of any language. One or more delimiters are defined and used to delimit data elements within the message structure. The data is interpreted based on templates which may be disseminated prior to the sending of messages and used as an abstraction so that the meaning of data need not be conveyed in the message. | 03-28-2013 |
| 20130080355 | System and Method of Margining Fixed Payoff Products - A system and method is disclosed for determining performance bonds for fixed payoff products, i.e. contracts which payoff a fixed amount based on the outcome of an underlying event regardless of the value thereof. The worst outcome of the overall portfolio, which may contain more multiple instruments, is calculated, allowing the portfolio to have both long and short positions on the same underlying event and offsets among instruments within the portfolio. A universe of outcomes is constructed including single events with single outcomes, and the probability thereof, and single events with multiple outcomes, each with a probability thereof. Each outcome has an associated price and probability. Low probability events will have low values, resulting in a lower margin requirement. The margin requirement is then the amount of the maximum loss that the portfolio can sustain for any possible outcome of the underlying event, adjusted for the probability thereof. | 03-28-2013 |
| 20130066806 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE MARKET RISK MARGIN REQUIREMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH A CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP - A system and computer-implemented method for determining a margin requirement associated with a plurality of financial instruments within a portfolio is disclosed. The system and method implement steps and procedures for analyzing the portfolio including the plurality of financial instruments where analyzing further includes determining a first time-series of returns for the plurality of financial instruments, determining a second time-series of returns for the plurality of financial instruments where the second time-series occurs after the first time-series, and calculating the correlation between the first time-series of returns and the second time-series of returns. The system and method implement further steps and procedures for calculating residuals and volatilities for the plurality of financial instruments within the portfolio as a function of the first time-series of returns, calculating a correlation matrix and degrees-of-freedom utilized to simulate standardized residuals for each of the plurality of financial instruments within the portfolio, generating simulated returns as a function of the simulated standardized residuals and the returns, generating a spread distribution for the portfolio, wherein the portfolio is repriced as a function of the simulated returns, and calculating a margin risk based on a risk percentile associated with the spread distribution. | 03-14-2013 |
| 20130041804 | System and Method for Activity Based Margining - A system and method for factoring in a trader's trading activity into the margin requirements is disclosed. In the securities arena, day traders are assessed different margins than non-day-traders, however, the specific profile of the trader is analyzed (that is, the same rule applies to all day traders). | 02-14-2013 |
| 20130041802 | Derivative Products - Systems and methods are described for processing and clearing derivatives products with a binary outcome and having a final settlement based on a triggering event. A computer system configured to process and clear derivative products can accept initial and adjusted performance bonds from buyers and sellers, and adjust the market price of the derivative product at intervals. The market price may be adjusted on a mark-to-market basis and through analysis of other information, e.g., the credit rating of a reference entity. As a result of price adjustments, cash flow may be generated between buyers and sellers. The derivative product may pay a predetermined final settlement amount or percentage upon the triggering of a predetermined event. However, upon expiration of the derivative product, the derivative's market price is settled to zero and the agreement is terminated. | 02-14-2013 |
| 20130031027 | Weather Derivative Volatility Surface Estimation - Systems and methods are provided for determining the volatility of weather derivative option contracts. Volatility levels are initially determined with conventional methods. Unreliable volatility levels are then replaced with futures contracts volatility levels. If the futures contracts volatility levels are not available or appear unreliable, meteorological volatility levels are utilized. The data may be reduced to a three dimensional surface and used when determining margin account requirements. | 01-31-2013 |
| 20130031020 | MARGIN AS CREDIT ENHANCEMENT CONTRACTS - Systems and methods are provided for implementing risk retention programs for originators and securitizers of asset backed securities. An administrative contract identified as a margin as credit enhancement contract is created for a corresponding asset backed security. A risk retention entity is assigned a long position for the margin as credit enhancement contract corresponding to a predetermined percentage of the asset backed security. A buyer of the asset backed security is assigned a short position for the margin as credit enhancement contract. When the asset backed security expires, a computer device settles the long and short positions of the margin as credit enhancement contract. | 01-31-2013 |
| 20130030980 | Method and System for Providing Option Spread Indicative Quotes - A computer network and method for electronically trading combinations of derivatives. One preferred method of trading includes providing quotes information to a central server, and determining indicative quotes for combination trades, and providing the non-binding, indicative quotes to market participants (which typically includes subscribers, but may also include market makers). A participant may then submit an e-RFQ, which is a request for a binding quote for the combination of derivatives. Market Makers may then elect to submit a binding quote for the corresponding derivative combination. Market participants may then elect to enter a binding order. | 01-31-2013 |
| 20130024347 | Multi-Laterally Traded Contract Settlement Mode Modification - Stored data may define a multilaterally-traded contract type and specify final settlement of contracts conforming to the contract type by delivery of a defined quantity of a commodity. Additional data may be received, which additional data may indicate potential invocation of an alternate cash settlement mode for a plurality of contracts. Each contract of the plurality may be a contract conforming to the contract type. Further data may be received, with the further data indicating the alternate cash settlement mode is invoked for a group of contracts. The group may be all of the contracts of the plurality or a sub-portion of the plurality. Data may be transmitted to indicate cash final settlement of each contract of the group by payment of a cash settlement value instead of by delivery of the defined quantity of the commodity. | 01-24-2013 |
| 20130024346 | Modification of Multi-Laterally Traded Contracts Based on Currency Unavailability Condition - A type of multi-laterally traded contract may designate a primary currency and a secondary currency. The primary currency may be used for settlement and/or other payment obligations in connection with instances of the contract type. Under certain conditions, however, authorization may be given for settlement and/or payment of at least some obligations using an equivalent amount of the secondary currency. | 01-24-2013 |
| 20130024345 | Interest Accrual Provisions For Multi-Laterally Traded Contracts - In the context of multi-laterally traded contracts, a method may be invoked in the event that payments denominated in a particular currency that are required in satisfaction of the contractual obligations of the contract cannot be made. Payments may be deferred for a specified number of business days or until such time as commercially practicable. Unpaid payments due may accrue interest and/or penalties at rates as determined by a governing body. | 01-24-2013 |
| 20130024344 | BIFURCATED COMMODITY IDENTIFIERS - Novel systems and methods for selectively listing a commodity under one or more different commodity codes are provided. A single commodity may be selectively listed under different commodity codes based upon whether it is offered on an opening or closing basis. The commodity may be an Interest Rate Swap (IRS). It may be matched with bids according to a fixed rate variable when listed under the first code. The same commodity may then be listed on the same exchange under a second commodity code. In one embodiment, the commodity listed under the second commodity code may be matched with bids according to a different variable, such as, for example, a currency amount. In one implementation, the currency amount of the second variable may represent a non-par payment. | 01-24-2013 |
| 20130024340 | Alternate Currency Derivatives - An alternate currency futures contract or other type of derivative can be denominated in a primary currency. Margin account adjustments for mark-to-market (MTM) settlements, final settlements, and/or other cash flows associated with the contract can initially be calculated based on the primary currency, and then be converted to an alternate, secondary currency. This conversion can occur unconditionally and without requiring a prior unavailability determination. | 01-24-2013 |
| 20130013485 | EVALUATION AND ADJUSTMENT OF SETTLEMENT VALUE CURVES - Disclosed is a method that is useful in connection with providing discount factors for an exchange-traded mark-to-market derivative product that has a variable tick rate, such as an interest rate swap product. In some embodiments, the method includes providing a series of consecutive settlement values, which collectively represent a settlement value curve for the derivative product. The curve is evaluated by determining, for each consecutive pair of settlement values, whether the difference between the first settlement value in the pair and the second settlement value in the pair exceeds a threshold. The threshold represents the value at which a discount factor derived from said pair of settlement values, in conjunction with other parameters, would be negative. In other embodiments the disclosed invention encompasses an apparatus and a computer-readable medium. | 01-10-2013 |
| 20120330814 | Live Alerts - Systems and methods for monitoring the trading of financial instruments are provided. Trading messages are received at a live alert server. The messages are analyzed with a set of predetermined limits and rules. When a predetermined limit or rule is violated, an email message is sent to a regulator or other trading entity. The email message may include a hyperlink that may be selected to generate a real-time report relating to the limit or rule. When hyperlink is selected, a query is sent to a query server where the real-time report is generated and transmitted back to the requesting party. | 12-27-2012 |
| 20120303510 | Derivative Products - Methods, systems and apparatuses are described for processing and clearing derivatives products with a digital outcome and a plurality of constituents. A computer system configured to process and clear derivative products can accept initial and adjusted performance bonds from buyers and sellers, and adjust the market price of the derivative product at intervals. The market price may be adjusted on a mark-to-market basis and through analysis of other information, e.g., a change in credit rating of reference entities of the derivative product. As a result of price adjustments, cash flow may be generated between buyers and sellers (e.g., credit and debit to accounts). The derivative product may pay a percentage of a predetermined final settlement amount upon the triggering of a predetermined event in each of the constituents of the derivative product. However, upon expiration of the derivative product, the derivative's market price is settled to zero and the agreement is terminated. | 11-29-2012 |
| 20120296850 | System and Method for Asymmetric Offsets in a Risk Management System - A system and method for using asymmetrical offsets for products in a risk management analysis system are disclosed. Conventional systems assign symmetrical offsets for products, that is, if two products have an 80% correlation they each would be assigned an offset of 80% with respect to each other. However, it is desirable to allow for asymmetrical offsets. In the disclosed system and method, when two products have a correlation of 80%, one may be assigned an offset of 75% and the other may be assigned an offset of 80%. There are many reasons to vary the offset between the products. The varying offset may reflect an asymmetry in the risk in one of the products, such as being traded in an illiquid market or in a less desirable venue. The varying offset may correct for an imbalance in spread credits due to special charges from intra spreading. | 11-22-2012 |
| 20120290463 | Processing Binary Options in Future Exchange Clearing - Systems and methods are disclosed for processing binary options (also referred to as digital options) in existing clearing systems, such as futures clearing systems. The binary option is treated, or processed, similar to standard options on a non-tradeable cash-settled underlying futures contract. A hypothetical instrument, referred to as a book instrument is created to facilitate clearing of the binary option. The book instrument has an expiration date after the expiration of the binary option, such as the day after the expiration of the binary option. For each binary option that expires in the money, a transaction is created for the book instrument future. The underlying book future has an assigned price that is a fixed amount less that the final price for the underlying statistical or actual value of the binary option at expiration. Transactions are loaded in the clearing system and processed and all positions are liquidated. | 11-15-2012 |
| 20120284169 | Foreign Currency Index - Systems and methods are provided for trading and calculating the composition of foreign currencies indexed financial instruments. The compositions of the financial instruments are determined by calculating a geometric average of the exchange rates of foreign currencies with corresponding competitive weights. The competitive weights for each of the foreign currencies reflects competition between the goods of the United States and a country corresponding to the foreign currency in the markets of third countries. | 11-08-2012 |
| 20120271749 | Publish and Subscribe System Including Buffer - Systems and methods for delivering a plurality of trading data messages to a server in connection with the monitoring the trading of financial instruments are provided. A listener subscribes to a subset of the plurality of trading data messages generated by market participants or components within the trading platform. A buffer receives the subset of the plurality of trading data messages and stores the subset of the plurality of trading data messages. A server, such as a live alerts server, receives the subset of the plurality of trading data messages stored from the buffer and analyzes the subset of the plurality of trading data. | 10-25-2012 |
| 20120265663 | Perpetual Futures Contracts With Periodic Reckonings - Systems and methods that provide for a perpetual futures/derivatives contract with periodic reckoning are disclosed. An embodiment may include a method of receiving a new perpetual contract and managing that contract through to its termination. The perpetual futures contract may comprise an option to terminate the contract at recurring predetermined intervals. The exchange may allow or prohibit exercise of the option based on particular parameters. | 10-18-2012 |
| 20120254062 | Index Based on Temporally Staggered Value Samples - Weights may be applied to temporally staggered value samples associated with a market item. Based on the weighted temporally staggered values, a value for an index is calculated. The calculated index value can then be output and used for any of a variety of purposes. | 10-04-2012 |
| 20120254012 | OUT OF BAND CREDIT CONTROL - Systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer readable media may be configured for informing a first node of a first fine precision algorithm for calculating a first credit utilization associated with a trading entity, and of whether to use a first coarse precision algorithm instead of the first fine precision algorithm as long as the first credit utilization remains below a first credit threshold, receiving first credit information data from the first node and second credit information data associated with the trading entity from a second node, and determining aggregate credit information data for the trading entity based on the first credit utilization data and the second credit utilization data. | 10-04-2012 |
| 20120254011 | OUT OF BAND CREDIT CONTROL - Systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer readable media may be configured for informing a first node of a first fine precision algorithm for calculating a first credit utilization associated with a trading entity, and of whether to use a first coarse precision algorithm instead of the first fine precision algorithm as long as the first credit utilization remains below a first credit threshold, receiving first credit information data from the first node and second credit information data associated with the trading entity from a second node, and determining aggregate credit information data for the trading entity based on the first credit utilization data and the second credit utilization data. | 10-04-2012 |
| 20120246096 | Clearing System That Determines Margin Requirements for Financial Portfolios - Methods, systems and apparatuses are described for calculating a performance bond amount for a portfolio including interest rate swaps. A risk calculation module (or risk processor) may assist in the calculation. In some examples, values, such as swap (DV01) dollar values and volatility values, and adjustments/factors, such as calendar charge adjustments and liquidity charge minimums, may be used to enhance the margin calculation. These values may be maintained and updated in various ways, including but not limited to, lookup tables, matrices, and other structures. The margin calculations may be used by an exchange or clearinghouse to request a portfolio holder to deposit additional funds towards a performance bond associated with the portfolio. | 09-27-2012 |
| 20120246056 | VALUATION OF DERIVATIVE PRODUCTS - Disclosed are a method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for determining the value of a derivative product over nonconsecutive periods. The derivative product may be an interest rate swap product, which, when exchanged traded, normally is valued on a mark-to-market basis over consecutive periods. The product may be valued using swap value factors and settlement values according to the methodology disclosed herein. | 09-27-2012 |
| 20120239548 | Hedging Risks Associated with Variable Priced Orders for Derivative Financial Products - Systems and methods are provided for executing a hedge transaction in connection with the execution of a derivative product order in which the price of the derivative product is defined by one or more variables. The hedge transaction may be executed at an exchange or match engine that is different from the exchange or match engine executing the derivative product order. The execution of derivative product transaction may be contingent on the existence of an appropriate hedge transaction. Alternatively, a best efforts approach may be used to fill the hedge transaction order after executing the derivative product transaction. | 09-20-2012 |
| 20120221488 | Distribution of Market Data - Systems and methods are provided for communicating and processing market data. The market data may comprise quotes, orders, trades and/or statistics. A messaging structure allows for adding, re-ordering and/or expanding data, within the printable character set of any language. One or more delimiters are defined and used to delimit data elements within the message structure. The data is interpreted based on templates which may be disseminated prior to the sending of messages and used as an abstraction so that the meaning of data need not be conveyed in the message. | 08-30-2012 |
| 20120209642 | IDENTIFICATION OF TRADING ACTIVITIES OF ENTITIES ACTING IN CONCERT - Market participants that are ostensibly unrelated but acting in concert are identified using vector algebra. Position data for the market participants is collected using the large trader reporting system or through another method. The position data includes the position for a specific financial derivative for each of the market participants. Information derived from position data is used to populate a vector for each market participant. At least one pair of vectors is analyzed by calculating a parallel score indicative of an angle between the two vectors. The parallel score may be a cosine of the angle. The parallel score may be compared to a threshold parallel score to determine the likelihood that the pair of market participants are acting in concert. The threshold parallel score differs from market to market and may be determined by analyzing the distribution of parallel scores for the specific market. | 08-16-2012 |
| 20120197779 | Trade Matching Platform with Variable Pricing Based on Clearing Relationships - The disclosure describes a regulated trading platform capable of communicating with a plurality of clearing houses. In particular, aspects of the disclosure relate to submitting enhanced request for quotes (RFQs) to request quote data with differentiated prices quotes for the same or underlying financial product/instrument based on the different clearing houses at which it may be cleared. The trading platform may allow anonymous counterparties in a multi-clearinghouse environment, and with full transparency and improved liquidity. The trading platform may also allow for non-anonymous counterparties in some situations. | 08-02-2012 |
| 20120197776 | Trade Matching Platform with Variable Pricing Based on Clearing Relationships - The disclosure describes a regulated trading platform capable of communicating with a plurality of clearing houses. In particular, aspects of the disclosure relate to providing and/or calculating differentiated prices for the same or underlying financial product/instrument capable of being cleared at different clearing houses. The trading platform may allow anonymous counterparties in a multi-clearinghouse environment, and with full transparency and improved liquidity. The trading platform may also allow for non-anonymous counterparties in some situations. | 08-02-2012 |
| 20120151001 | Clearing Message Broker System - Systems and methods are provided for efficiently permitting the transmission and receipt of trading messages between message sources configured to use a variety of different protocols. Messaging gateways may be configured to reformat messages for proper transmission across a transport mechanism. Routers may be dynamically partitioned so that manual reconfiguration is not required when sources and/or routers are added or deleted. The routers may be configured to route messages based on content to limit the amount of formatting required at message sources. | 06-14-2012 |
| 20120136770 | Systems and Methods for Using Declining Balance Methodologies To Enhance Clearing of Dividend Futures and Other Instruments - Systems and method are disclosed for quoting, adjusting and settling futures contracts by successively removing the just-realized variables from the quoted futures price to focus the quoted contract value to the remaining unrealized economic variables. Further, such systems and method for quoting, adjusting and settling the futures contracts preserve the underlying economic consideration for the trade when compared with the traditional way of quoting futures based on the same cumulative sum. | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120116946 | Foreign Currency Index - Systems and methods are provided for trading and calculating the composition of foreign currencies indexed financial instruments. The compositions of the financial instruments are determined by calculating a geometric average of the exchange rates of foreign currencies with corresponding competitive weights. The competitive weights for each of the foreign currencies reflects competition between the goods of the United States and a country corresponding to the foreign currency in the markets of third countries. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120101958 | BREAKOUT INDEXES - Methods and systems for calculating values for indexes based on breakout currencies are provided. A prospective breakout index may be formed before an entity breaks out of a monetary union. Other aspects relate to calculating an initial index value on a breakout date. An initial exchange rate of the breakout currency may be combined with a breakout value and/or a base value. In one embodiment, the breakout value is the reciprocal of the initial exchange rate. Therefore, in accordance with certain embodiments, the initial index value of the breakout index may be equal to the base value. Further aspects relate to calculating a second index value. A second exchange rate of the breakout currency may be utilized with the fixed base value and the breakout value to calculate the second index value of the breakout index. Further aspects relate to creating a prospective currency unit for a monetary union. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120101957 | PROSPECTIVE CURRENCY UNITS - Methods and systems for calculating values for indexes based on breakout currencies are provided. A prospective breakout index may be formed before an entity breaks out of a monetary union. Other aspects relate to calculating an initial index value on a breakout date. An initial exchange rate of the breakout currency may be combined with a breakout value and/or a base value. In one embodiment, the breakout value is the reciprocal of the initial exchange rate. Therefore, in accordance with certain embodiments, the initial index value of the breakout index may be equal to the base value. Further aspects relate to calculating a second index value. A second exchange rate of the breakout currency may be utilized with the fixed base value and the breakout value to calculate the second index value of the breakout index. Further aspects relate to creating a prospective currency unit for a monetary union. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120084194 | Controlling Markets During a Stop Loss Trigger - A system mitigates market spike effects caused by conditional ordering triggering and election in an automated matching system. The system monitors trading as a result of cascading triggering of conditional orders. When an order is executed beyond a predetermined price threshold, an instrument may be flagged, allowing matching to occur only at or within the predetermined price threshold. Orders within the price threshold are matched at the price threshold against orders beyond it, dampening any instantaneous damaging effects of the price spike. The system may adjust the price threshold when market appropriate, allowing the order flow to bring the market back to whatever is the true price level. The system mitigates purely conditional order cascade driven price fluctuations, but allows the market to continuously trade in controlled price and time intervals ensuring that true market moves can still occur without price control mechanisms hindering trade matching and true price discovery. | 04-05-2012 |
| 20120078777 | Live Alerts - Systems and methods for monitoring the trading of financial instruments are provided. Trading messages are received at a live alert server. The messages are analyzed with a set of predetermined limits and rules. When a predetermined limit or rule is violated, an email message is sent to a regulator or other trading entity. The email message may include a hyperlink that may be selected to generate a real-time report relating to the limit or rule. When hyperlink is selected, a query is sent to a query server where the real-time report is generated and transmitted back to the requesting party. | 03-29-2012 |
| 20120072514 | Market Data Recovery - Networks, systems and methods for recovering data messages from a market data stream and for building a book for a financial instrument are disclosed. An out-of-band data stream related to an as-of state of the market for one or more financial instruments is distributed parallel to a stream of market data for the financial instrument. The as-of data stream is referenced to the financial according to a unique identifier of the messages of the market data stream. The as-of data for a financial instrument may be provided at periodic rate that may be varied according to one or more factors. | 03-22-2012 |
| 20120072326 | Smart Trade Template Based Matching - Systems and methods for matching orders are provided. One or more trade templates are created. The trade templates define groups of orders for financial instruments that may be combined such that all of the orders are matched. A collection of tradable price levels is also created for each template. New orders and resting orders are analyzed using one or more trade templates and tradable price levels to determine whether a combination of orders satisfies all of the elements of a trade template with a required price level. When all of the elements of a trade template are satisfied and an order with a tradable price level is received, the corresponding orders may be matched contemporaneously. | 03-22-2012 |
| 20120066114 | System and Method of Utilizing a Distributed Order Book in an Electronic Trade Match Engine - Methods and systems are providing for minimizing the effects of transmission delays when providing orders for financial instruments. A plurality of order books and match engines may be maintained at geographically dispersed locations. The orders may be synchronized to provide the appearance of a single order book to traders and other users. The plurality of order books and match engines allow traders and other users to transmit orders to the match engine associated with the shortest transmission delay and to access orders pending at other match engines. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120041896 | Order Risk Management for Financial Product Processing - Systems and methods are provided for processing derivative product orders at an exchange. Traders provide derivative product order risk data to the exchange. The order risk data may include maximum delta, gamma and/or vega utilization values for derivative product contracts based on the same underlying product. Before executing a trade, a match system analyzes the trader's current utilization state and the utilization that would result after the trade. The match system may then execute all or a portion of the trade. | 02-16-2012 |
| 20120041892 | OPTION PRICING MODEL FOR EVENT DRIVEN CALL AND PUT OPTIONS - Systems and methods are provided for valuing event driven option contracts. A jump diffusion based model, such as a Merton jump diffusion based model, is modified to assume arithmetic movement of an underlying price and a single jump. The arithmetic movement of the underlying price may be modeled with a Bachelier based arithmetic model. Calculated values may be used to determine margin account requirements. | 02-16-2012 |
| 20120041860 | EVALUATION AND ADJUSTMENT OF SETTLEMENT VALUE CURVES - Disclosed is a method that is useful in connection with providing discount factors for an exchange-traded mark-to-market derivative product that has a variable tick rate, such as an interest rate swap product. In some embodiments, the method includes providing a series of consecutive settlement values, which collectively represent a settlement value curve for the derivative product. The curve is evaluated by determining, for each consecutive pair of settlement values, whether the difference between the first settlement value in the pair and the second settlement value in the pair exceeds a threshold. The threshold represents the value at which a discount factor derived from said pair of settlement values, in conjunction with other parameters, would be negative. In other embodiments the disclosed invention encompasses an apparatus and a computer-readable medium. | 02-16-2012 |
| 20120030090 | Hedging Risks Associated With Variable Priced Orders For Derivative Financial Products - Systems and methods are provided for executing a hedge transaction in connection with the execution of a derivative product order in which the price of the derivative product is defined by one or more variables. The hedge transaction may be executed at an exchange or match engine that is different from the exchange or match engine executing the derivative product order. The execution of derivative product transaction may be contingent on the existence of an appropriate hedge transaction. Alternatively, a best efforts approach may be used to fill the hedge transaction order after executing the derivative product transaction. | 02-02-2012 |
| 20120011391 | MATCH SERVER FOR A FINANCIAL EXCHANGE HAVING FAULT TOLERANT OPERATION - Fault tolerant operation is disclosed for a primary match server of a financial exchange using an active copy-cat instance that mirrors operations in the primary match server, but only after those operations have successfully completed in the primary match server. Fault tolerant logic monitors inputs and outputs of the primary match server and gates those inputs to the backup match server once a given input has been processed. The outputs of the backup match server are then compared with the outputs of the primary match server to ensure correct operation. The disclosed embodiments further relate to fault tolerant failover mechanism allowing the backup match server to take over for the primary match server in a fault situation wherein the primary and backup match servers are loosely coupled. As such, the primary match server need not be specifically designed or programmed to interact with the fault tolerant mechanisms. | 01-12-2012 |
| 20110313905 | Generating Implied Orders Based on Electronic Requests for Quotes - Systems and methods for determining implied spreads are provided. More particularly, implied spread financial transactions are generated using information from requests for quotes (RFQs). An RFQ processor module may focus the calculations performed by an implied spread determination module. A financial instrument associated with an RFQ may be provided to the implied spread determination module to trigger the determination of whether implied orders exist related to that particular financial instrument. | 12-22-2011 |
| 20110307369 | FACTORIZATION OF INTEREST RATE SWAP VARIATION - Methods are described for processing and clearing derivative products such as interest rate swaps (IRSs). A swap value factor (SVF) may be generated to calculate the mark-to-market value of an IRS. The SVF may be a function of interest rates derived from a yield curve. Cash flow may be generated between the buyer and the seller to reflect the change in the market price of the derivative, i.e., the mark-to-market process. The results of a cleared swap may be used to determine or alter the margin deposit required by the buyer or seller. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20110295737 | Settling Over-The-Counter Derivatives Using Synthetic Spot Benchmark Rates - Techniques and systems for settling over-the-counter financial instruments includes sampling over a periodic interval are disclosed. A volume weighted average price of the sampled process may be calculated and forward points may be applied to the volume weighted average priced to determine an associated spot exchange rate. Such a synthetic spot FX exchange rate may be published to subscribers. Over-the-counter financial derivatives may establish delivery obligations according to the spot exchange rate. In the event where a number of transactions during the sampling period is less than a threshold, a midpoint of bids and asks associated with orders for the exchange traded financial derivative may be used to determine an average of the midpoint, to which the forward points may be applied to determine the spot exchange rate. Alternatively, the time-weighted average of the bid and ask orders during a periodic interval may be used in computing the volume-weighted average price. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110295726 | CALENDAR SPREAD FUTURES - A calendar spread futures contract is a forward contract on the intermonth spread of futures contracts. The calendar spread futures contract can be independently traded and accounted for independent of the traditional roll periods of the complementary futures contracts. An open interest holder can hedge against price volatility in the related futures contracts that may occur prior to or during the roll period. In other words, the calendar spread futures contract locks in the current spread between the front-month contract and the first-deferred contract. Buying a calendar spread futures control is equivalent to buying the spread difference between the expiring contract and the second expiry. Selling a calendar spread futures contract is equivalent to selling the spread difference between the expiring contract and the second expiry. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110288977 | OPTION PRICING MODEL FOR EVENT DRIVEN INSTRUMENTS - Systems and methods are provided for valuing event driven option contracts. A jump diffusion based model, such as a Merton jump diffusion based model, is modified to assume arithmetic movement of an underlying price and a single jump. The arithmetic movement of the underlying price may be modeled with a Bachelier based arithmetic model. Calculated values may be used to determine margin account requirements. | 11-24-2011 |
| 20110270737 | ORDER RISK MANAGEMENT FOR DERIVATIVE PRODUCTS - Systems and methods are provided for processing derivative product orders at an exchange. Traders provide derivative product order risk data to the exchange. The order risk data may include maximum delta, gamma and/or vega utilization values for derivative product contracts based on the same underlying product. Before executing a trade, a match system analyzes the trader's current utilization state and the utilization that would result after the trade. The match system may then execute all or a portion of the trade. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110258109 | Out of Band Credit Control - Systems and method for mediating risks associated with orders in an electronic trading system are provided. A front end component includes a plurality of trading engines that receive orders from traders. A back-end component includes a match system. The system includes a credit control module, which may be located at the back-end (e.g., clearinghouse), front end, a combination thereof, or other location that communicates with the plurality of trading engines. The credit control may monitor aggregate risk parameters for the trading engines and requests credits from trading engines. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110252273 | MATCH SERVER FOR A FINANCIAL EXCHANGE HAVING FAULT TOLERANT OPERATION - Fault tolerant operation is disclosed for a primary match server of a financial exchange using an active copy-cat instance, a.k.a. backup match server, that mirrors operations in the primary match server, but only after those operations have successfully completed in the primary match server. Fault tolerant logic monitors inputs and outputs of the primary match server and gates those inputs to the backup match server once a given input has been processed. The outputs of the backup match server are then compared with the outputs of the primary match server to ensure correct operation. The disclosed embodiments further relate to fault tolerant failover mechanism allowing the backup match server to take over for the primary match server in a fault situation wherein the primary and backup match servers are loosely coupled, i.e. they need not be aware that they are operating in a fault tolerant environment. As such, the primary match server need not be specifically designed or programmed to interact with the fault tolerant mechanisms. Instead, the primary match server need only be designed to adhere to specific basic operating guidelines and shut itself down when it cannot do so. By externally controlling the ability of the primary match server to successfully adhere to its operating guidelines, the fault tolerant mechanisms of the disclosed embodiments can recognize error conditions and easily failover from the primary match server to the backup match server. | 10-13-2011 |
| 20110251944 | TRADE ENGINE PROCESSING OF MASS QUOTE MESSAGES AND RESULTING PRODUCTION OF MARKET DATA - Systems and methods are provided for processing mass quote messages and generating market data. A mass quote message is received and individual orders are parsed and processed. Individual market data messages are stored in a market data message buffer. After all orders are processed, the contents of the market data message buffer is distributed as a single market data message. | 10-13-2011 |
| 20110246819 | FAULT TOLERANCE AND FAILOVER USING ACTIVE COPY-CAT - Fault tolerant operation is disclosed for a primary instance, such as a process, thread, application, processor, etc., using an active copy-cat instance, a.k.a. backup instance, that mirrors operations in the primary instance, but only after those operations have successfully completed in the primary instance. Fault tolerant logic monitors inputs and outputs of the primary instance and gates those inputs to the backup instance once a given input has been processed. The outputs of the backup instance are then compared with the outputs of the primary instance to ensure correct operation. The disclosed embodiments further relate to fault tolerant failover mechanism allowing the backup instance to take over for the primary instance in a fault situation wherein the primary and backup instances are loosely coupled, i.e. they need not be aware that they are operating in a fault tolerant environment. As such, the primary instance need not be specifically designed or programmed to interact with the fault tolerant mechanisms. Instead, the primary instance need only be designed to adhere to specific basic operating guidelines and shut itself down when it cannot do so. By externally controlling the ability of the primary instance to successfully adhere to its operating guidelines, the fault tolerant mechanisms of the disclosed embodiments can recognize error conditions and easily failover from the primary instance to the backup instance. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110238563 | Foreign Currency Index - Systems and methods are provided for trading and calculating the composition of foreign currencies indexed financial instruments. The compositions of the financial instruments are determined by calculating a geometric average of the exchange rates of foreign currencies with corresponding competitive weights. The competitive weights for each of the foreign currencies reflects competition between the goods of the United States and a country corresponding to the foreign currency in the markets of third countries. | 09-29-2011 |
| 20110208632 | Generation of a Hedgeable Index and Market Making for a Hedgeable Index-Based Financial Instrument - Systems, methods, and apparatuses are provided for processing a relationship metric comprising a plurality of components each having an associated percentage weight, selecting a plurality of financial instruments each corresponding to one of the plurality of components, determining an integer number of each of the plurality of financial instruments such that a relationship based on the integer numbers approximates the percentage weights, and composing an index that includes the respective integer numbers of each of the plurality of financial instruments. | 08-25-2011 |
| 20110178956 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EFFICIENTLY USING COLLATERAL FOR RISK OFFSET - A system and method for analyzing correlation between the assets given by the trader for collateral and that trader's open positions is disclosed. Thus, if the collateral is correlated to the trader's open positions, then some offset can be given. If there is no correlation than the collateral is valued in the conventional way. For example, if a trader provides t-bills as collateral for an account that has open positions (e.g. short futures) in T-bills, than that trader's account can be credited with some offset since the value of T-bills and T-bill futures are highly correlated. | 07-21-2011 |
| 20110161244 | Clearing System That Determines Margin Requirements for Financial Portfolios - Methods, systems and apparatuses are described for calculating a performance bond amount for a portfolio including interest rate swaps. A risk calculation module (or risk processor) may assist in the calculation. In some examples, values, such as swap (DV01) dollar values and volatility values, and adjustments/factors, such as calendar charge adjustments and liquidity charge minimums, may be used to enhance the margin calculation. These values may be maintained and updated in various ways, including but not limited to, lookup tables, matrices, and other structures. The margin calculations may be used by an exchange or clearinghouse to request a portfolio holder to deposit additional funds towards a performance bond associated with the portfolio. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110145123 | CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP POST CREDIT EVENT - Methods, systems and apparatuses are described for determining that a credit event has occurred for an entity; determining an upfront price and a bond price for a credit default swap deliverable (CDSD) contract associated with the entity; determining a first weighting for the upfront price and a second weighting for the bond price; and calculating a settlement price for the CDSD contract that is a function of the first weighting, the second weighting, the upfront price, and the bond price. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110145117 | Clearing System That Determines Settlement Prices of Derivatives in Financial Portfolios - Methods, systems and apparatuses are described for credit default swap (CDS) settlement pricing. The method includes receiving at least quoted prices and/or executed prices, and using them to calculate a settlement price of CDSs in a portfolio. The calculation of the settlement price may also consider other information, such as recovery rate, hazard rate function, etc. The invention also may include an electronic trading platform that is fully integrated with a central counterparty clearing facility for CDSs. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110119173 | System and Method for Providing Intelligent Market Data Snapshots - Systems and methods are provided for processing and distributing market data. Critical data, such as data showing that a market price has changed is distributed without further delay. When the market data does not result in a change in a market price or does not meet another critical criteria, the market data is aggregated with market data for similar events and distributed when the aggregated market data passes a quantity threshold. | 05-19-2011 |
| 20110082787 | Volume Control For Mass Quote Messages - Systems and methods are provided for processing mass quote messages and generating market data. A mass quote message is received and individual orders are parsed and processed. Individual market data messages are stored in a market data message buffer. After all orders are processed, the contents of the market data message buffer is distributed as a single market data message. | 04-07-2011 |
| 20110082786 | HEDGING RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH VARIABLE PRICED ORDERS FOR DERIVATIVE FINANCIAL PRODUCTS - Systems and methods are provided for executing a hedge transaction in connection with the execution of a derivative product order in which the price of the derivative product is defined by one or more variables. The hedge transaction may be executed at an exchange or match engine that is different from the exchange or match engine executing the derivative product order. The execution of derivative product transaction may be contingent on the existence of an appropriate hedge transaction. Alternatively, a best efforts approach may be used to fill the hedge transaction order after executing the derivative product transaction. | 04-07-2011 |
| 20110078070 | BUNDLED FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS - Networks, systems and methods that match orders for bundled financial instruments are disclosed. In one example, the bundled financial instrument includes packaged underlying financial instruments that together provide an economic equivalent exposure to a long-term investment vehicle. The bundled financial instrument may include any set of contracts considered a linear combination of a plurality of standardized contracts associated with an obligation to exchange an asset at a set price on a future date. An open position for the bundled financial instrument is a function of the prices for each of the standardized contracts of the bundle and remains open from execution of the order to the earlier of a maturity of the bundled financial instrument, a conversion of the bundled financial instrument into constituent parts of the linear combination of a plurality of standardized contracts, or in the case where the bundled instrument is fractional size contract, when multiple bundles are converted to a single position of a corresponding full-sized instrument. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110066567 | Rule Based Vector Space Model For Creating Implied Trade Templates - A match engine is utilized by either a market participant or an electronic trading system. The match engine receives orders, stores them internally, calculates tradable combinations and displays or otherwise publishes the tradable combinations or the order(s) needed to complete tradable combinations. The match engine operates under a set of rules that may be customized to provide only the tradable combinations that are likely to be executed and contribute to total trading volume. At least some tradeable combinations that are not likely to be traded are not calculated, which frees up the computing capacity of the electronic trading system. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110066538 | Accelerated Trade Matching Using Speculative Parallel Processing - An electronic trading system is configured to create speculative orders based on real orders. The speculative order differs from the real order by the price, quantity, or the type of financial instrument. The match engine chooses one or more speculative orders in an attempt to predict the next real order. Even though processing multiple trades at the same time is impossible, the use of speculative orders can permit the match engine to perform the calculations involved with the trade and generate the messages associated with the trade ahead of time. If the prediction was correct and the next order received by the match engine corresponds to one of the speculative orders, some of the matching activity has already been performed. This in effect, allows the match engine to process trades more efficiently and increases the total trading volume that can be handled by the electronic trading system. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110066535 | CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP CLEARING - An electronic trading system is configured to trade credit default swap (CDS) futures contracts on an open exchange. The CDS futures contract allows the buyer and seller isolate and trade the credit risk of a third party. The third pay may be a corporation, sovereign government, or any entity that issues bonds or notes. The CDS futures contract seller effectively pays the premium over time in increments determined by market rates and through the natural operation of the open market. The CDS futures contract buyer makes a contingency payment if the CDS futures contract goes in-the-money (ITM). Both sides of the contract are guaranteed by the exchange as a counterparty. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110055067 | UTILIZING A TRIGGER ORDER WITH MULTIPLE COUNTERPARTIES IN IMPLIED MARKET TRADING - An electronic trading system utilizes a Match Engine that receives orders, stores them internally, calculates tradeable combinations and advertises the availability of real and implied orders in the form of market data. Calculating tradeable combinations or cycles for certain strategies becomes complex. Strategies that utilize legs having different volume ratios may form tradeable combinations that will traverse a trigger order more than one time. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110040671 | Settling Over-The-Counter Derivatives Using Synthetic Spot Benchmark Rates - Techniques and systems for settling over-the-counter financial instruments includes sampling over a periodic interval are disclosed. A volume weighted average price of the sampled process may be calculated and forward points may be applied to the volume weighted average priced to determine an associated spot exchange rate. Such a synthetic spot FX exchange rate may be published to subscribers. Over-the-counter financial instruments may establish delivery obligations according to the spot exchange rate. In the event where a number of transactions during the sampling period is less than a threshold, a midpoint of bids and asks associated with orders for the exchange traded financial instrument may be used to determine an average of the midpoint, to which the forward points may be applied to determine the spot exchange rate. Alternatively, the time-weighted average of the bid and ask orders during a periodic interval may be used in computing the volume-weighted average price. | 02-17-2011 |
| 20110016032 | MARKET DATA MESSAGE FORMAT - Systems and methods are provided for communicating and processing market data. The market data may comprise quotes, orders, trades and/or statistics. A messaging structure allows for adding, re-ordering and/or expanding data, within the printable character set of any language. One or more delimiters are defined and used to delimit data elements within the message structure. The data is interpreted based on templates which may be disseminated prior to the sending of messages and used as an abstraction so that the meaning of data need not be conveyed in the message. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20110002457 | CUSTOMER SERVICE CONTROLLER - Information about a caller is provided to an agent, such as a customer service operator in a customer service call center. In one embodiment, the agent may receive detailed account and/or personal information about the caller before being connected to the actual or live call. For example, the agent receives information from a customer database regarding a customer profile and information from an order database regarding order or transaction information. The customer database and the order database are external to the call center. The agent may modify the customer profile and/or the order or transaction information. The customer database and order database are update accordingly and the information may be transferred along with the call to another agent. | 01-06-2011 |
| 20100318459 | Template Based Matching - Systems and methods for matching orders are provided. One or more trade templates are created. The trade templates define groups of orders for financial instruments that may be combined such that all of the orders are matched. New orders and resting orders are analyzed using one or more trade templates to determine whether a combination of orders satisfies all of the elements of a trade template. When all of the elements of a trade template are satisfied, the corresponding orders may be matched contemporaneously. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100306133 | Order Risk Management for Financial Product Processing - Systems and methods are provided for processing derivative product orders at an exchange. Traders provide derivative product order risk data to the exchange. The order risk data may include maximum delta, gamma and/or vega utilization values for derivative product contracts based on the same underlying product. Before executing a trade, a match system analyzes the trader's current utilization state and the utilization that would result after the trade. The match system may then execute all or a portion of the trade. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20100293087 | System and Method of Utilizing a Distributed Order Book in an Electronic Trade Match Engine - Methods and systems are providing for minimizing the effects of transmission delays when providing orders for financial instruments. A plurality of order books and match engines may be maintained at geographically dispersed locations. The orders may be synchronized to provide the appearance of a single order book to traders and other users. The plurality of order books and match engines allow traders and other users to transmit orders to the match engine associated with the shortest transmission delay and to access orders pending at other match engines. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20100223201 | Out of Band Credit Control - Systems and method for mediating risks associated with orders in an electronic trading system are provided. A front end component includes a plurality of trading engines that receive orders from traders. A back-end component includes a match system. The system includes a credit control module, which may be located at the back-end (e.g., clearinghouse), front end, a combination thereof, or other location that communicates with the plurality of trading engines. The credit control may monitor aggregate risk parameters for the trading engines and requests credits from trading engines. | 09-02-2010 |
| 20100205115 | TRADER STATION USER INTERFACE - A variety of user interfaces, systems and methods are provided for traders of commodities, futures contracts, derivatives, stocks, etc. A user interface may have two display modes, locked and unlocked. In the locked mode, some or all of the data fields (price, bids, offers—optionally bids and offers not exposed to the market) are locked. In the unlocked mode, all the data fields, including the price column, are dynamically updated. In a second embodiment, a price column is divided such that prices above the market are in a first column and prices below the market are in a second column to reduce the number of columns required to show bids, offers and prices. Optionally, the trader's bids and offers not exposed to the market can be shown in columns adjacent to the market bids and offers. In a third embodiment of the invention orders are cancelled if the market changes within a short period of time before the order is placed and the change does not benefit the user. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100145841 | EVALUATION AND ADJUSTMENT OF SETTLEMENT VALUE CURVES - Disclosed is a method that is useful in connection with providing discount factors for an exchange-traded mark-to-market derivative product that has a variable tick rate, such as an interest rate swap product. In some embodiments, the method includes providing a series of consecutive settlement values, which collectively represent a settlement value curve for the derivative product. The curve is evaluated by determining, for each consecutive pair of settlement values, whether the difference between the first settlement value in the pair and the second settlement value in the pair exceeds a threshold. The threshold represents the value at which a discount factor derived from said pair of settlement values, in conjunction with other parameters, would be negative. In other embodiments the disclosed invention encompasses an apparatus and a computer-readable medium. | 06-10-2010 |
| 20100121787 | HEDGING RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH VARIABLE PRICED ORDERS FOR DERIVATIVE FINANCIAL PRODUCTS - Systems and methods are provided for executing a hedge transaction in connection with the execution of a derivative product order in which the price of the derivative product is defined by one or more variables. The hedge transaction may be executed at an exchange or match engine that is different from the exchange or match engine executing the derivative product order. The execution of derivative product transaction may be contingent on the existence of an appropriate hedge transaction. Alternatively, a best efforts approach may be used to fill the hedge transaction order after executing the derivative product transaction. | 05-13-2010 |
| 20100106633 | VALUATION OF DERIVATIVE PRODUCTS - Disclosed are a method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for determining the value of a derivative product over nonconsecutive periods. The derivative product may be an interest rate swap product, which, when exchanged traded, normally is valued on a mark-to-market basis over consecutive periods. The product may be valued using swap value factors and settlement values according to the methodology disclosed herein. | 04-29-2010 |
| 20100088209 | OPTION PRICING MODEL FOR EVENT DRIVEN INSTRUMENTS - Systems and methods are provided for valuing event driven option contracts. A jump diffusion based model, such as a Merton jump diffusion based model, is modified to assume arithmetic movement of an underlying price and a single jump. The arithmetic movement of the underlying price may be modeled with a Bachelier based arithmetic model. Calculated values may be used to determine margin account requirements. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100042550 | WEATHER DERIVATIVE VOLATILITY SURFACE ESTIMATION - Systems and methods are provided for determining the volatility of weather derivative option contracts. Volatility levels are initially determined with conventional methods. Unreliable volatility levels are then replaced with futures contracts volatility levels. If the futures contracts volatility levels are not available or appear unreliable, meteorological volatility levels are utilized. The data may be reduced to a three dimensional surface and used when determining margin account requirements. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100017647 | MATCH SERVER FOR A FINANCIAL EXCHANGE HAVING FAULT TOLERANT OPERATION - Fault tolerant operation is disclosed for a primary match server of a financial exchange using an active copy-cat instance, a.k.a. backup match server, that mirrors operations in the primary match server, but only after those operations have successfully completed in the primary match server. Fault tolerant logic monitors inputs and outputs of the primary match server and gates those inputs to the backup match server once a given input has been processed. The outputs of the backup match server are then compared with the outputs of the primary match server to ensure correct operation. The disclosed embodiments further relate to fault tolerant failover mechanism allowing the backup match server to take over for the primary match server in a fault situation wherein the primary and backup match servers are loosely coupled, i.e. they need not be aware that they are operating in a fault tolerant environment. As such, the primary match server need not be specifically designed or programmed to interact with the fault tolerant mechanisms. Instead, the primary match server need only be designed to adhere to specific basic operating guidelines and shut itself down when it cannot do so. By externally controlling the ability of the primary match server to successfully adhere to its operating guidelines, the fault tolerant mechanisms of the disclosed embodiments can recognize error conditions and easily failover from the primary match server to the backup match server. | 01-21-2010 |
| 20100017345 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTI-FACTOR MODELING, ANALYSIS AND MARGINING OF CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS FOR RISK OFFSET - A system and method for determining a margin requirement associated with a plurality of financial instruments within a portfolio is disclosed. The system and method include receiving a plurality of data associated with the plurality of financial instruments within the portfolio, determining a systematic risk margin based on at least a portion of the received plurality of data, determining a curve risk margin based on at least a second portion of the received plurality of data, determining a convergence and divergence risk margin based on at least a third portion of the received plurality of data, determining a sector risk margin based on at least a fourth portion of the received plurality of data, determining an idiosyncratic risk margin based on at least a fifth portion of the received plurality of data, determining a liquidity risk margin based on at least a sixth portion of the received plurality of data, determining a basis risk margin based on at least a seventh portion of the received plurality of data, and calculating a multi-factor risk margin based on one more of the determined risk factors. | 01-21-2010 |
| 20100017321 | Adaptive Implied Spread Matching - Systems and methods for determining implied spreads are provided. An example includes receiving a new order for a financial instrument and determining if the new order in combination with pending orders creates an implied spread. The implied spread may be submitted with information to facilitate matching the legs of the implied spread using the new order. The detection of the implied spread may be performed outside of a match engine; thus, permitting the detection to occur in parallel and apart from the operation of the match engine. | 01-21-2010 |
| 20090299914 | Publish and Subscribe System Including Buffer - Systems and methods for delivering a plurality of trading data messages to a server in connection with the monitoring the trading of financial instruments are provided. A listener subscribes to a subset of the plurality of trading data messages generated by market participants or components within the trading platform. A buffer receives the subset of the plurality of trading data messages and stores the subset of the plurality of trading data messages. A server, such as a live alerts server, receives the subset of the plurality of trading data messages stored from the buffer and analyzes the subset of the plurality of trading data. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090265267 | DERIVATIVES TRADING METHODS THAT USE A VARIABLE ORDER PRICE - Methods and systems for an exchange to handle variable derivative product order prices are disclosed. The price of a derivative product order (bid or offer) is updated based on changes in the price of a related underlying product. Price determination variable(s), such as delta and gamma, are used to determine the price of the order. The exchange may periodically recalculate the price without requiring the trader to transmit additional information to the exchange. | 10-22-2009 |
| 20090265264 | Request for Market Stream - Systems and methods are provided to implement request for stream functionality (RFS) into the trading environment. A request for stream may be submitted to determine liquidity of a particular financial instrument of interest to a customer. In response to a request for stream, quotes may be submitted by market markers within a predetermined amount of time. In an embodiment, a customer may determine which market makers receive the request for stream. The financial instruments may include Euro denominated interest rate swaps, U.S. denominated interest rate swaps, or OIS interest rate swaps. | 10-22-2009 |
| 20090248564 | SETTLEMENT PRICING FOR CENTRALLY CLEARED SWAPS - Methods are provided to determine a settlement price for an over-the-counter exchange traded financial instrument. The method includes receiving swap curves from a plurality of market makers and identifying missing data points in the curves. A repair mode may be determined for curves identified as missing data. The curves may be repaired based on the determined repair mode. The selected curves including the repaired curves may be blended together to derive a final settlement prices for each of a plurality of standardized centrally cleared swaps. The financial instruments may include Euro denominated interest rate swaps, U.S. denominated interest rate swaps, or OIS interest rate swaps. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090187511 | LIVE ALERTS - Systems and methods for monitoring the trading of financial instruments are provided. Trading messages are received at a live alert server. The messages are analyzed with a set of predetermined limits and rules. When a predetermined limit or rule is violated, an email message is sent to a regulator or other trading entity. The email message may include a hyperlink that may be selected to generate a real-time report relating to the limit or rule. When hyperlink is selected, a query is sent to a query server where the real-time report is generated and transmitted back to the requesting party. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090177571 | PROCESSING BINARY OPTIONS IN FUTURE EXCHANGE CLEARING - Systems and methods are disclosed for processing binary options (also referred to as digital options) in existing clearing systems, such as futures clearing systems. The binary option is treated, or processed, similar to standard options on a non-tradeable cash-settled underlying futures contract. A hypothetical instrument, referred to as a book instrument is created to facilitate clearing of the binary option. The book instrument has an expiration date after the expiration of the binary option, such as the day after the expiration of the binary option. For each binary option that expires in the money, a transaction is created for the book instrument future. The underlying book future has an assigned price that is a fixed amount less that the final price for the underlying statistical or actual value of the binary option at expiration. Transactions are loaded in the clearing system and processed and all positions are liquidated. Options exercise and assignment processing is performed in the clearing system as well as an associated clearing firm bookkeeping system. | 07-09-2009 |
| 20090132402 | Settling Over-The-Counter Derivatives Using Synthetic Spot Benchmark Rates - Techniques and systems for settling over-the-counter financial instruments includes sampling over a periodic interval are disclosed. A volume weighted average price of the sampled process may be calculated and forward points may be applied to the volume weighted average priced to determine an associated spot exchange rate. Such a synthetic spot FX exchange rate may be published to subscribers. Over-the-counter financial derivatives may establish delivery obligations according to the spot exchange rate. In the event where a number of transactions during the sampling period is less than a threshold, a midpoint of bids and asks associated with orders for the exchange traded financial derivative may be used to determine an average of the midpoint, to which the forward points may be applied to determine the spot exchange rate. Alternatively, the time-weighted average of the bid and ask orders during a periodic interval may be used in computing the volume-weighted average price. | 05-21-2009 |
| 20090089200 | PRE-EXECUTION CREDIT CONTROL - Systems and methods are provided to provide pre-execution risk or credit control for electronic financial derivative product trading. A portfolio risk management analysis method, such as the Standard Portfolio Analysis of Risk method, is used to determine how a new order will impact the overall credit or risk of a trading entity. The pre-execution risk control is performed on an order by order basis prior to order execution and may include an analysis of assets and orders for other financial products at the same or different exchanges. The risk level for a trading entity may be set by that trading entity, its clearing organization or the exchange. | 04-02-2009 |
| 20090089197 | TBA FUTURES CONTRACTS AND CENTRAL COUNTERPARTY CLEARING OF TBA - Networks, systems and methods that match orders for TBA futures and settle and clear open positions for TBA futures are disclosed. The TBA futures may include MBS TBA future contracts. A central counterparty clearing firm may net long and short positions and generate delivery instructions to parties having open positions. | 04-02-2009 |
| 20090089071 | COMPRESSED NON-INDEXED DATA STORAGE - Systems and methods for storing and processing trading records are disclosed. The records may be arranged so that a single processor read operation reads multiple values. The records may also be arranged in a substantially sequential non-indexed collection and stored in a solid state memory module, such as a cache memory of a processor. A computer device may be configured to access the non-indexed collection of trading records and perform operations such as matching trades, recreating the state of an order book or analyzing trading records. | 04-02-2009 |
| 20090076946 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING TRADES OUTSIDE OF A NO-BUST RANGE IN AN ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM - An alert system that notifies an Exchange's staff of a trade that appears to be outside of an expected market range of prices includes an input device, determination logic, evaluation logic, and alert logic. The determination logic derives a theoretical no-bust range of prices based on data received from the input device. The theoretical no-bust range of prices are prices above and below a synthesized market price, within which an erroneous trade cannot be cancelled. The evaluation logic monitors trades and compares those trades to the theoretical no-bust range of prices. The alert logic notifies the Exchange's staff when the evaluation logic identifies a potentially erroneous trade that lies outside the theoretical no-bust range of prices. A method of notifying the Exchange of a trade that potentially lies outside of an expected range of prices includes monitoring an input range of prices and deriving the theoretical no-bust range of prices. The method then compares transactions prices to the theoretical no-bust range of prices and notifies the Exchange when a potentially erroneous trade can be cancelled. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090076940 | Volume Control For Mass Quote Messages - Systems and methods are provided for processing mass quote messages and generating market data. A mass quote message is received and individual orders are parsed and processed. Individual market data messages are stored in a market data message buffer. After all orders are processed, the contents of the market data message buffer is distributed as a single market data message. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090063360 | DYNAMIC MARKET DATA FILTERING - Networks, systems and methods for dynamically filtering market data are disclosed. Streams of market data may be buffered or stored in a queue when inbound rates exceed distribution or publication limitations. Inclusive messages in the queue may be removed, replaced or aggregated, reducing the number of messages to be published when distribution limitations are no longer exceeded. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090059941 | DYNAMIC DATA FILTERING - Networks, systems and methods for dynamically filtering data are disclosed. Streams of data may be buffered or stored in a queue when inbound rates exceed distribution or publication limitations. Inclusive messages in the queue may be removed, replaced or aggregated, reducing the number of messages to be published when distribution limitations are no longer exceeded. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090055303 | OUT OF BAND CREDIT CONTROL - Systems and methods are provided that can provide credit control monitoring across any number of trading engines without adding any performance or scalability limitations. | 02-26-2009 |
| 20090037345 | Bundled Financial Instruments - Networks, systems and methods that match orders for bundled financial instruments are disclosed. In one example, the bundled financial instrument includes packaged underlying financial instruments that together provide an economic equivalent exposure to a long-term investment vehicle. The bundled financial instrument may include any set of contracts considered a linear combination of a plurality of standardized contracts associated with an obligation to exchange an asset at a set price on a future date. An open position for the bundled financial instrument is a function of the prices for each of the standardized contracts of the bundle and remains open from execution of the order to the earlier of a maturity of the bundled financial instrument, a conversion of the bundled financial instrument into constituent parts of the linear combination of a plurality of standardized contracts, or in the case where the bundled instrument is fractional size contract, when multiple bundles are converted to a single position of a corresponding full-sized instrument. | 02-05-2009 |
| 20090019305 | MARKET DATA RECOVERY - Networks, systems and methods for recovering data messages from a market data stream and for building a book for a financial instrument are disclosed. An out-of-band data stream related to an as-of state of the market for one or more financial instruments is distributed parallel to a stream of market data for the financial instrument. The as-of data stream is referenced to the financial according to a unique identifier of the messages of the market data stream. The as-of data for a financial instrument may be provided at periodic rate that may be varied according to one or more factors. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20080275806 | EVENT TRIGGERED TRADING - Networks, systems and methods for event triggered trading of investment vehicles are disclosed. Orders that are conditioned upon events occurring outside a market may be submitted to an exchange. The conditional orders may be held or stored until the occurrence or non-occurrence of the event. An event data feed is provided to provide information identifying the occurrence or non-occurrence of the event. In response to receiving information via the data feed identifying the event, the orders conditioned upon the event will be triggered, matched, and executed. | 11-06-2008 |
| 20080249958 | FACTORIZATION OF INTEREST RATE SWAP VARIATION - Methods are described for processing and clearing derivative products such as interest rate swaps (IRSs). A swap value factor (SVF) may be generated to calculate the mark-to-market value of an IRS. The SVF may be a function of interest rates derived from a yield curve. Cash flow may be generated between the buyer and the seller to reflect the change in the market price of the derivative, i.e., the mark-to-market process. The results of a cleared swap may be used to determine or alter the margin deposit required by the buyer or seller. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080222086 | LIVE PROFILE - Systems and methods for reconstructing the state of a market are provided. Orders are arranged as a non-indexed collection of orders and may be stored in the cache memory of a processor. The physical locations of orders stored in the memory may correspond to the order in which they were received at a match engine. A computer device simulates the processing of orders between any time periods to reconstruct the activity state of an entity across a trading platform and one or more order books. | 09-11-2008 |
