Systems, methods and computer program products for electronic trading of financial instruments
An internet-protocol based anonymous trading system which enables traders to identify bids and offers which they are eligible to trade based upon a color coded methodology which gives the trader credit preference information about the potential counterparty while still maintaining the anonymity of the potential counterparty. To that end, each bid or offer is prescreened against all possible counterparties' credit information in the system and each counterparty sees a unique color coded trading interface based upon their particular credit preference combinations and the others in the system. The system then shows all prices in the system, and the color coding tells the trader which prices he is able to trade, and also shows him the full depth of the market, including those the trader is unable to trade.
1 - 11 . (canceled)
12 . A system for facilitating derivative trading, said system having a plurality of interconnected trader nodes that exchange order information, each trader node comprising:
a trader module that receives real-time order information and presents said real-time order information to a trader according to customized profiles defined by said trader;
a credit preference module that includes credit preference data inputted by said trader for use in determining trade eligibility of trades proposed in said real-time order information with a second trader and a multi-rule measurement configured to provide more than one rule for enabling credit rating of at least one of financial instruments and other traders; and
an interface to a communications network that interconnects said plurality of trader nodes.
13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein one of the rules of the multi-rule measurement a enables credit rating based on instrument maturity.
14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein said trader module includes a plurality of selectable trader definable formats that said real-time order information can be presented.
15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein said trader definable formats include a market entry interface that provides trading information on a trader defined list of financial instruments, and a blotter interface that provides order information of said trader.
16 . The system of claim 14 , wherein said trader definable formats include a market detail interface that includes system wide orders on a specified financial instrument.
17 . The system of claim 12 , wherein said trader module presents said order information utilizing instrument symbology.
18 . The system of claim 12 , further including a switch module that receives interest rate swap positions from said trader and said second traders, and that determines relative position information for said trader.
19 . (canceled)
20 . A computer program product for use with a data processing system for facilitating derivative trading, said computer program product comprising:
a computer usable medium having computer-readable code means embodied in said medium, said computer-readable code means comprising:
a trader software module for receiving real-time order information and presenting said real-time order information to a trader according to profiles customized by said trader; and
a credit preference software module for determining trade eligibility of proposed trades between said trader and a second trader, wherein said credit preference software module includes credit preference data inputted by said trader and a multi-rule measurement configured to provide more than one rule for enabling credit rating of at least one of financial instruments and other traders.
21 . A computer program product for use with a data processing system for facilitating derivative trading, said computer program product comprising:
a computer usable medium having computer-readable code means embodied in said medium, said computer-readable code means comprising:
a credit preference module for determining trade eligibility of proposed trades between a trader and a second trader wherein said credit preference module includes credit preference data inputted by said trader and a multi-rule measurement configured to provide more than one rule for enabling credit rating of at least one of financial instruments and other traders;
a market module that provides said first and second traders with essentially real-time order information regarding more than one financial instrument, said order information including requests to buy financial instruments and requests to sell financial instruments; and
an execution module associated with said central processing center that can process a trades conditioned upon determination of trade eligibility by the credit preference module initiated by one of said first and second traders which desires to trade on an order proposed in said order information by the other of said first and second traders.
22 - 43 . (canceled)
44 . A computer program product for use with a data processing system for facilitating derivative trading, said computer program product comprising:
a computer usable medium having computer-readable code means embodied in said medium for facilitating derivative trading between a first party and a plurality of potential traders including a second party, all of which are interconnected by a computer network, said computer-readable code means comprising:
computer readable code means for inputting credit preference data on the potential traders for distribution to the potential traders, said credit preference data sufficient to allow a multi-rule credit rating configured to provide more than one rule for enabling credit rating of at least one of an instrument and the potential traders;
computer readable code means for sending an order from the first party to the potential traders requesting a trade on the instrument; and
computer readable code means for receiving an acknowledgement from the second trader initiating a trade with the first trader on the order.
45 . A system for facilitating derivative trading, said system having a plurality of interconnected trader nodes that exchange order information, each trader node comprising:
a trader module that receives real-time order information and presents said real-time order information to a trader according to customized profiles defined by said trader and is configured to perform a second and final credit preference check prior to execution of a trade;
a credit preference module that includes credit preference data inputted by said trader for use in determining trade eligibility of trades proposed in said real-time order information with a second trader and a multi-rule measurement configured to provide more than one rule for enabling credit rating of at least one of financial instruments and other traders; and
an interface to a communications network that interconnects said plurality of trader nodes.