Real time network exchange with seller specified exchange parameters and interactive seller participation

1. A computer-implemented method for operating a real time networked exchange in which a financial instrument is traded from a first participant to a second participant, the method comprising:

under control of instructions executed by at least one processor of a host server,

configuring the host server on which the networked exchange is operated according to a mode of operations by:

defining a start time of the exchange,

defining a stop time of the exchange,

defining rules of public access to the exchange, and

providing a capability for the first participant to intervene in the exchange by terminating an offer of a trade;

receiving from a first participant over a computer network an offer to trade the financial instrument, the financial instrument being in an account of the first participant at the exchange;

receiving from a second participant over a computer network an offer to trade an item for the financial instrument, the item being in an account of the second participant at the exchange;

associating the first participants offer with the second participant's offer; and

clearing the trade between the first and second participants of the item for the financial instrument by:

transferring the item traded by the second participant to the account at the exchange of the first participant,

transferring the financial instrument to the account at the exchange of the second participant,

making the financial instrument immediately available to the second participant for additional trading on the exchange, and

making the item immediately available to the first participant for additional trading on the exchange.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the mode of operations includes defining a minimum offer increment.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the mode of operations defines a best offer.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , further comprising comparing two or more offers to trade an item for the financial instrument to select the best offer as defined by the mode of operations.

5. A computer-implemented method for operating a networked exchange in which a stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative is traded from a first participant to a second participant, the method comprising:

under control of instructions executed by at least one processor of a host server,

programming the host server to operate the networked exchange according to a mode of operations by:

defining a start time of the exchange,

defining a stop time of the exchange,

defining rules of public access to the exchange, and

providing a capability for the first participant to intervene in the exchange by terminating an offer of a trade;

receiving from a first participant over a computer network an offer to trade the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative being in an account of the first participant at the exchange;

receiving from the second participant over a computer network an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, the item being in an account of the second participant at the exchange;

associating the first participant's offer with the second participant's offer; and

clearing the trade between the first and second participants of the item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative by:

transferring the item traded by the second participant to the account at the exchange of the first participant,

transferring the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative to the account at the exchange of the second participant,

in connection with the transfer of the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, making the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative available to the second participant for additional trading on the exchange, and

in connection with the transfer of the item, making the item available to the first participant for additional trading on the exchange.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which clearing the trade is completed without submissions from outside the exchange.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which receiving from the second participant over a computer network an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative includes receiving an offer to purchase the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative for cash.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising transferring funds from the first participant's account, from the second participant's account, or from both accounts to the exchange as a charge for the trade.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which receiving from the second participant over a computer network an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative includes receiving from the second participant over a computer network an offer to trade funds for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, and further comprising:

providing an account at the exchange for the second participant, the account including funds equivalent to a purchase price of the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative; and

providing an account at the exchange for the first participant, the account containing the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, wherein both the second participant's funds and the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative are controlled by the exchange as required to provide completion of the clearing process in real time.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which clearing the trade includes:

obtaining an exclusive right to modify a lock on a first data record;

obtaining an exclusive right to modify a lock on a second data record;

altering data in said first data record and said second data records to indicate the trade;

releasing said exclusive right to modify lock on a first data record; and

releasing said exclusive right to modify lock on a second data record.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which receiving from the second participant over a computer network an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative includes receiving an automatic bid on behalf of the second participant without the second participant's intervention, the automatic bid being made a software agent acting in accordance with pre-specified criteria.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 in which the software agent searches for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative to trade for and monitors the second participant's bid status on stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivatives.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which:

receiving from the second participant over a computer network an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative includes receiving from multiple second participants multiple offers; and

associating the offer to trade the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative with the offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative includes associating the highest of the multiple offers with the offer to trade the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which receiving from the first participant over a computer network an offer to trade the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative includes receiving an offer from the first participant to trade the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative at a specified price.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which receiving from the second participant over a computer network an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative includes receiving from the second participant over a computer network an offer to trade cash, currency, a security, a stock, a derivative, or a commodity for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising providing by the exchange an on-line electronic chat capability through which the second participant and the first participant can negotiate.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which clearing the trade includes clearing the trade in real time and in which the exchange provides to exchange users information about offers to trade stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivatives and offers to trade items for stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative and in which the information is updated in real time upon completion of the trade to reflect the real time clearing of the trade.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which:

receiving from a first participant over a computer network an offer to trade the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative includes receiving from the first participant an offer to trade the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative without an intermediary broker; and

receiving from the second participant an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative includes receiving from a second participant an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative without an intermediary broker, the exchange providing a forum for a trade between the first participant and the second participant without using an intermediary broker.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which receiving from the first participant over a computer network an offer to trade the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative includes changing an aspect of the offer before the offer is accepted.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which associating by the exchange processor the first participant's offer with the second participant's offer includes matching in real time an offer from a first participant with an offer from a second participant to effect a trade of at least one stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the mode of operations includes defining a best offer.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21 , further comprising comparing two or more offers to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency or derivative to select the best offer as defined by the mode of operations.

23. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a mode of operations that specifies how an exchange is to be operated;

configure the exchange according to the received mode of operations by:

defining a start time of the exchange,

defining a stop time of the exchange,

defining rules of public access to the exchange, and

providing a capability for a first participant to intervene in the exchange by terminating an offer of a trade facilitated through the exchange;

receive from the first participant over a computer network an offer to trade a stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative being in an account of the first participant at the exchange;

receive from a second participant over a computer network an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, the item being in an account of the second participant at the exchange;

associate by the computer, the first participant's offer with the second participant's offer; and

clear the trade between the first and second participants of the item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative by:

transferring the item traded by the second participant to the account at the exchange of the first paragraph,

transferring the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative to the account at the exchange of the second participant,

in connection with the transfer of the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, making the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative available to the second participant for additional trading on the exchange, and

in connection with the transfer of the item, making the item available to the first participant for additional trading on the exchange.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23 , wherein the mode of operations defines a best offer.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the computer-executable instructions stored thereon, when executed on the computer, further cause the computer to compare two or more offers to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency or derivative and to select the best offer as defined by the mode of operations.

26. A computer-implemented method of operating a real time networked exchange in which a stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative is traded from a first participant to a second participant, the method comprising:

under control of instructions executed by at least one processor of a server computer,

programming the server computer to operate the real time networked exchange according to a mode of operations by:

defining a start time of the exchange,

defining a stop time of the exchange,

defining rules of public access to the exchange, and

providing a capability for the first participant to intervene in the exchange by terminating an offer of a trade;

receiving from a first participant over a computer network an offer to trade the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative being in an account of the first participant at the exchange,

making the offer available in real time to be accepted by a second participant;

receiving from the second participant over a computer network an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, the item being in an account of the second participant at the exchange;

associating in real time the first participant's offer with the second participant's offer;

clearing the trade between the first and second participants of the item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative in real time by:

transferring the item traded by the second participant to the account at the exchange of the first participant,

transferring the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative to the account at the exchange of the second participant,

making the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative available to the second participant for additional trading on the exchange,

making the item available to the first participant for additional trading on the exchange; and

displaying in real time to participants in the exchange that the trade has been completed.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 , further comprising providing a communication channel for the first participant and the second participant to negotiate an exchange.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 , in which receiving an offer to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency, or derivative, includes receiving an offer generated by an artificial intelligence in accordance with parameters specified by the second participant.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 , wherein the mode of operations defines a best offer.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 29 , further comprising comparing two or more offers to trade an item for the stock, security, option, future, commodity, currency or derivative to select the best offer as defined by the mode of operations.