WO2013188706A1 - Real-time trading platform - Google Patents

Abstract

An assets trading platform for automated real-time trading of assets is provided. The system acts as an intermediary among members, broker dealers, and exchanges, and matches orders to bids in real time to complete transactions between buyers and sellers on the open markets. The platform receives and maintains all orders received in a queue for execution. Orders are generated for the system from clients' devices or systems having a client application, or, from a web browser application running on a client's device configured to operate with the trading platform. The trading platform provides a 1 -click trading for instantaneous, secure connectivity to markets. The stream of market data is fed to a client's device and can be acted upon in real time by multiple users across multiple financial institutions and brokers simultaneously and securely.

Description

REAL-TIME TRADING PLATFORM

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/659,397, filed June 13, 2013, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. This application is also a Continuation-in-part of prior co-pending U.S. Application No. 13/547,008, filed July 1 1 , 2012, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/572, 146 filed July 1 1 , 201 1 , the disclosures of both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates generally to an assets trading exchange and in particular to a human touch and automated real-time platform for executing assets trading transactions.

BACKGROUND

[0003] The first electronic trading platforms were associated with stock exchanges and allowed brokers to place orders remotely using private dedicated networks and dumb terminals. Early systems would not always provide live streaming prices and instead only allowed brokers or clients to place an order which would be confirmed at some later time. These were known as "request for quote" systems. Trading systems evolved to allow for live streaming prices and near instant execution of orders as well as using the Internet as the underlying network meaning that location became much less of an issue. Some modern electronic trading platforms allow traders to develop automatic or algorithmic trading systems, which have been used by high frequency traders. The client graphical user interface of the electronic trading platforms can be used to trade currencies, equities, options, futures, commodities, bonds, and treasuries.

[0004] Electronic trading platforms typically stream live market prices on which users can trade and may provide additional trading tools, such as charting packages, news feeds and account management functions. Generally, electronic trading platforms are computer systems that can be used to place orders for financial products over a network using a financial intermediary such as brokers, market makers, investment banks or stock exchanges. Such platforms allow electronic trading to be carried out by users from any location and are in contrast to traditional floor trading using open outcry and telephone-based trading, But such systems have heretofore required intermediaries to actually perform the trades which make real-time trading relatively impossible for the average person.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] These and other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures, in which:

[0006] FIG, 1 depicts an example embodiment of an automated trading system.

[0007] FIG, 2 depicts an example embodiment of a process for carrying out trades.

[0008] FIG. 3 depicts an example embodiment of a user interface.

[0009] FIG. 4 depicts an example embodiment of accessing the trading platform from a web browser.

[0010] FIG. 5 depicts an example embodiment of a process for carrying out trades.

SUMMARY

Methods and apparatuses described herein include an assets trading platform for automated real-time trading of assets which provides accurate and precise information, trading based on factual data, and assurance of execution and immediate confirmation. The system acts as an intermediary among members, broker dealers, and exchanges, and matches orders to bids in real time to complete transactions between buyers and sellers on the open markets, The platform receives and maintains all orders received in a queue for execution. In a first embodiment, orders are generated for the system from clients' devices or systems having a client application. In an alternate embodiment, orders are generated from a web browser application running on a client's device configured to operate with the trading platform. The trading platform provides a 1 -click trading for instantaneous, secure connectivity to markets by interacting with the live real time market data in real time for the generation and completion of trade orders in a seamless platform. The stream of market data is fed to a client device and can be acted upon in real time by multiple users across multiple financial institutions and brokers simultaneously and securely.

[0011] One aspect of the present disclosure is that a user (e.g., a retail user or a professional user) is enabled to, among other things, request for quote, set order type, set time limit and price limit on transaction, and select his choice of routing through appropriate user interface provided on the client's device by the trading platform. In other words, the user is enabled to customize trading parameters at a dashboard that aggregates the user's choices and leverages the user choices outside of a particular exchange.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings, which are provided as illustrative examples of the disclosure so as to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure. Notably, the figures and examples below are not meant to limit the scope of the present disclosure to a single embodiment, but other embodiments are possible by way of interchange of some or all of the described or illustrated elements, Moreover, where certain elements of the present disclosure can be partially or fully implemented using known components, only those portions of such known components that are necessary for an understanding of the present disclosure will be described, and detailed descriptions of other portions of such known components will be omitted so as not to obscure the disclosure, Embodiments described as being implemented in software should not be limited thereto, but can include embodiments implemented in hardware, or combinations of software and hardware, and vice-versa, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, unless otherwise specified herein. In the present specification, an embodiment showing a singular component should not be considered limiting; rather, the disclosure is intended to encompass other embodiments including a plurality of the same component and/or a plurality of sub-components, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. Moreover, applicants do not intend for any term in the specification or claims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitly set forth as such. Further, the present disclosure encompasses present and future known equivalents to the known components referred to herein by way of illustration.

[0013] The assets trading platform described herein includes an entire automated real-time process for trading assets which provides (1) accurate and precise information, (2) trading based on factual data, (3) assurance of execution and immediate confirmation, and (4) the use of computer hardware and software to implement the process. All asset classes can be traded on the novel platform disclosed herein including equities, bonds, options, futures, commodities, government treasuries, and even assets on foreign exchanges (Forex). The trading conducted on this automated assets trading platform will be effected through a central server programmed to handle orders. The platform is accessible through special software downloaded onto remote client devices that interact with a web server through the various client-server protocols known in the art. In one

embodiment, these protocols are available for communication over the Internet or other networks. Clients will send trade transaction details from their remote devices such as desktops, laptops, smartphones, eReaders, or other browser capable devices upon which the client software can be installed,

[0014] The system acts as an intermediary among members, broker dealers, and exchanges, and matches orders to bids in real time to complete transactions between buyers and sellers on the open markets. The term "user" has been used to broadly encompass various categories of participants, including but not limited to platform providers, retail traders, professional traders, day traders amateur traders etc.

[0015] When an order is transmitted to the platform, its pertinent characteristics will be recorded including price, quantity, and the time the order was placed, The platform receives and maintains all orders received in a queue for execution. In one embodiment, the orders are maintained in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue referred to as a FIFO buffer. However, other embodiments are also contemplated and the invention is not limited to the FIFO configuration.

[0016] FIG, 1 depicts an example embodiment of an automated trading system. In the illustrated embodiment, system 101 includes a web server 104 that stores and operates an automated real-time assets trading platform. Web server 104 receives live, real-time trading data from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) superfeed 100. The superfeed includes all asset classes and consists of normalized data which is generated from raw data provided by all the exchanges such as DJIA, NASDAQ, S&P, VIX, FTSE, DAX, NIKKEI, CME, TSE, etc. The superfeed at the NYSE is provided using a messaging applications programming interface (API) 102 over a network. An API is generally a specification intended to be used as an interface so that software components of different systems can communicate with each other. In one embodiment, the messaging API 102 is a Middleware Agnostic Messaging API (MAMA) that is generally software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system, analogous to software glue, for management of data in distributed applications.

[0017] The network over which the superfeed 100 is provided is a dedicated, secure backbone network. Such a network can be implemented in a variety of ways including over the Internet using secure technology such as Virtual Private Network (VPN) as is well known in the art and will not be discussed further herein. The messages are then received by the messaging API 106 in the web server 104. In one embodiment, this is also a MAMA programming interface. Those messages are then properly formatted and provided to the order management system (OMS) 108 which is at the heart of the platform of the disclosed invention. The OMS 108 receives the live superfeed and processes orders from clients according to various embodiments of the invention disclosed herein.

[0018] OMS 108 is coupled with clients 1 19 over the Internet and is further coupled with a database 1 10 used for storing client profile information, level of service, trading details, and other accounting, authorization, and authentication (AAA) information for each user of the system. AAA is well known in the art for use in client-server protocols and will not be discussed further herein. Database 1 10 further provides time stamping and caching of orders in the system. OMS 108 receives live trading data from superfeed 100 and provides that data in real time to clients 1 19 who can trade on that information at their remote locations, This is performed using web logic 1 12 as shown in the illustration.

[0019] Web logic 1 12 receives orders from clients 1 19 over the Internet and places those orders in a queue to be sent out to various broker dealers or exchanges for order matching and execution. In one embodiment, web logic 1 12 is queuing software such as a software package supplied by Oracle, Inc. Alternatively, web logic 1 12 is an implementation of JBoss Software integrated with a Java Tool Kit (JTK) supplied by NYSE, which also has a FIFO queuing mechanism, Other functionally equivalent embodiments are possible. After accepting each client 1 19's orders, messages will be generated and will flow FIFO to message handling engine 1 14. In one embodiment, message handling engine 1 14 is a Fix Engine owned by NYSE for providing messaging formatting understood by financial institutions and that meet all the regulatory requirements such as FINRA. From the messaging engine 1 14, the message spreads out to all exchanges and brokers connected to the network for order matching in their respective execution engines 1 15.

[0020] An example embodiment of a process for carrying out trades is depicted in FIG. 2. In the illustrated embodiment, process 201 begins at operation 200 where a new order is received. The received order is then verified (operation 202) and bad orders are rejected (operation 204), In one embodiment, a bad order rejection is a sales decision. For good orders, an order acknowledgement is received and the process proceeds with the transaction (operation 206), At operation 208, it is determined whether a partial or full order can be processed. If only a partial order can be processed, the order is partially filled and the process is repeated with the outstanding orders to be filled equaling the order total minus that part which has been fulfilled (operations 210). In that case, process 201 returns to operation 200 with a reduced or partial order. If the order can be filled completely, process 201 continues to operation 212 where the order is fully completed, This concludes process 201 according to one exemplary embodiment,

[0021] Table 1 shows examples of messaging for filled and partially filled orders.

Table 1

[0022] Table 2 shows examples of messaging for issuing a cancel request for a partially filled order. Note execution occurs while the cancel request is active.

Table 2 [0023] In a first embodiment, orders are generated for the system from clients' devices or systems having a client application installed that is configured to operate with the trading platform of the invention. Such systems can include, for example, desktops, laptops, smartphones, eReaders, backseat displays, airplane displays, etc. FIG. 3 depicts an example embodiment of a user interface operable with various aspects of the invention described herein, In the illustrated embodiment, user interface 301 can include a display for financial institutions 300. For example, Morgan Stanley may have a dedicated user interface display 300 that works with client applications over the network. Other financial institutions as well including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab, etc. may have dedicated user interface displays compatible with client application software. An example of such a display is shown in the figure and can include a listing of symbols 305 for actively traded asset classes as well as the current live trading details 304 for each symbol.

[0024] One of the novel aspects of the invention is providing the user interface with a 1 -click trading mechanism, shown as trade button 302 in the figure. Thus, the invention includes a 1 -click trading platform configured to operate using a 1 -click trading button that can be displayed in a user interface of a client application. This trading button 302 can provide for instantaneous, secure connectivity to markets by interacting with the live superfeed 100 of market data in real time for the generation and completion of trade orders in a seamless platform, Essentially, there is a stream of real time data fed to a client's device that can be acted upon in real time by multiple users across multiple financial institutions and brokers simultaneously and securely.

[0025] The credentials provided by the client can be quickly authenticated and need not be broker proprietary as is typical for trading web sites such as E-Trade.com and Trade Station.com to name a few. Such a 1 -click trading button 302 connects directly to the stream of trading data and generates orders that go directly into a queue of orders to be executed in order and in real time based on the availability of buyer-seller matches only. This obviates the need for setting up an E-Trade or other online broker account where funds need to be provided to the broker for transactions and where login information is required to enter their website. Also unlike these trading websites, the data acted upon is in real time and accessible directly by users of the trading platform having the appropriate software stored on their remote client devices. Such a process includes funds transfer and conversion as necessary. Users can have funds transferred from any account in any location seamlessly to buy and sell asset classes of all types without the middle-man broker dealers or online broker accounts.

[0026] Once the required fields 306 for a particular trade are provided by a user within the user interface 301 as shown in FIG. 3, the trade button 302 can be actuated to execute the trade, In the illustrated embodiment, the fields 306 include order ID, order type, order size, and time of transaction. In one embodiment, the order ID is a unique identifier of the order as assigned by the buy-side institution, broker or intermediary. Uniqueness must be guaranteed within a single trading day, Firms, particularly those which electronically submit multi-day orders, trade globally throughout the market close periods, so it is important to ensure uniqueness across days, for example by embedding the date within the Order ID field. The order type field can include any of the valid order types including the following orders: (1) market, (2) limit, (3) stop, (4) stop limit, (5) market on close, (6) with or without, (7) limit or better, (8) limit with or without, (9) on basis, (10) on close, (1 1) limit on close, (12) Forex market, etc, All incoming price detail will have a call to the NYSE messaging API 102 and will connect to the OMS messaging API 108. After users successfully initiate the system and download the client application and registering with the OMS 108 on the web server 104, they can view the symbol list 305 for buy and sell transactions. The symbols list 305 includes symbols subscribed to by each user, Upon clicking any symbol in the list 305, the user interface 301 will display the current real-time trading details of the particular asset including bid, ask, and volume information. After clicking on the trade button 302, the trade information is queued in the web logic 1 12 and provided to the message handling engine 114 for execution as discussed with reference to FIG, 1 ,

[0027] In an alternate embodiment, orders are generated from a web browser on a client's device that is configured to operate with the trading platform of the invention, FIG, 4 depicts an example embodiment of accessing the trading platform from a web browser, In the illustrated embodiment, system 401 includes a CNBC web browser 400 (or other business news web browser) running on a user's remote system or device, Such a web browser already includes real time quote information including hi/low, news and profile information as shown on the left hand side of the web browser. This information is already in existence but can be combined with a trading window 402 provided by the trading platform. The trading window 402 includes the real time information provided by embodiments disclosed herein including buy, sell, quantity and price, as well as the trading button 404 discussed previously, In this alternative embodiment, secure real time trades can be executed as discussed previously but with the incorporation into a third-party web browser, such as CNBC shown in the illustrated embodiment. Once a trade order is generated it flows across the Internet to trading platform 410, one embodiment of which is shown running on server 104 of FIG. 1 , Client software 405 can either be run locally as discussed previously or can be running in the cloud and accessed from the client 406 as is well known in the art, From there, the orders are sent across multiple brokers and exchanges where they are executed in FIFO manner in execution engine 412 based on the price available at time of execution,

[0028] FIG, 5 depicts an example embodiment of a process for carrying out trades, Process 501 begins at operation 1 where the user interface 504 sends trade details to the exchange 502 and/or a broker dealer 506 via message handling engine 500, In one embodiment, the message handling engine 500 is a Fix Engine owned by NYSE, Available offers are then displayed to the broker dealer 506 and user interface 504 (operation 2). The broker dealer 506 can then send updates to the user interface 504 based on the user's account (operation 3), Upon user choice, the user interface then sends out a trade message (operation 4). Then, either a confirmation is received (operation 5) or, if not, the system returns to repeat operation 1. This concludes process 501 according to one embodiment.

[0029] One aspect of the present disclosure is that a user (e.g., a retail user or a professional user) is enabled to request for quote and can select his choice of routing through appropriate user interface provided on the client's device by the trading platform, In other words, the user is enabled to customize trading parameters outside of a particular exchange,

[0030] In conventional systems, the typical process flow is as follows: a user logs in to his broker dealer account at the broker website, and engages in trading based upon listed price as it appears in the website. The user does not know the source and/or authenticity of the stock price quoted. The user also does not know how an order gets executed and how and where the order gets routed through. Moreover, after trade execution, the user typically has to wait for 48-72 hours get fund transfer, especially if it involves foreign countries.

[0031] With the novel approach proposed herein, the user has several advantages. First, the user is enabled to register all UI details to broker dealer and then trade from within those known parameters. The user may also be enabled to trade from news content. The user has choice where to receive market data (e.g., price details) from sources that he trusts and/or picks himself. The user also decides where to route his order. The user can adjust one or more settings of the algorithms (e.g. in a non-limiting example, instead of selling 1000 shares at one time, the user may set a batch, and each batch carries a 100 of shares). The user can modify order, alter or cancel batch processing, set market price for a batch etc. The user has a choice set limit (e.g. 100 @ $10.99, 100 @ $ 1 1 ,99, 100 @ 12.99 etc.) with incremental price of stock. Once transaction is done, the user may get the choice to transfer fund via his choice of banks for best Forex offering and route within specific time limit (e.g., faster transfer may have high transaction cost).

[0032] These features are useful for individual and/or retail traders and professional traders (e.g., RIAs, Licensed/registered traders) alike. For example, FINRA has about 600k registered professional traders. With the embodiments of this disclosure, retail traders have a platform as robust as what is available to the professional traders to harness trading advantages like the professional traders because of the customizable algorithms provided to the users.

[0033] The algorithm allows the user to set 'order type' of a trade. If the order type is 'market order', it gets executed right away and that's one top popular order type. However the user may place constraints on the order, i.e. the order is not to be executed for a preset time till get his/her price, or the preset time limit has passed. The user may even cancel the order within that time limit or at a later point if it is still unexecuted. At that time user gets choice what is available at various matching engines (NYSE, NSADAQ BATS, etc.) and modify order type/route. Professional traders have choice of 2000 different order types and place large order (e.g., in block l k to 10k range with a total sum 25k to 1M or more). Professional time traders seek more choice since they like to modify, or cancel order. By managing timing of the order, this current algorithm allows users to come up with the best strategy and stay ahead of the other competitors.

[0034] The techniques described herein are not limited to the specific embodiments, as they will work with any properly configured device connected to the Internet. These techniques allow for flexibility in structure and function as long as a secure, real time network can be established connecting users with brokers and exchanges. These techniques can further be implemented in a stand-alone device or can be built into the modem chip or other integrated circuit. [0035] Although the invention has been particularly described with reference to the embodiments described herein, it should be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that changes and modifications in the form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, For instance, the techniques described herein are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry or software. It will be apparent to skilled artisans from this description that aspects of the invention may be embodied in software, hardware, firmware, or a combination of these. In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in combination with software operations implemented in computer-executable instructions which cause a general- purpose or special-purpose computer to perform the disclosed operations. In other embodiments, the operations can be implemented with custom hardware alone.

[0036] Embodiments may include various operations as set forth above, or fewer or more operations; or operations in an order different from the order described. Also an embodiment showing a singular component should not be considered limiting; rather, the invention is intended to encompass other embodiments including a plurality of the components, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A method for automated real-time trading of assets across multiple available exchanges on a secure computer platform coupled with one or more multiple client devices configured to operate with the secure computer platform over a network, the method comprising:

providing the secure computer platform for automated real-time trading of assets across the multiple available exchanges;

receiving at the secure computer platform live trading data from the multiple available exchanges;

providing from the secure computer platform some of the live trading data in realtime to the one or multiple client devices;

receiving at the secure computer platform from the one or multiple client devices a plurality of trading orders corresponding to the some live trading data;

placing the trading orders in a queue of the secure computer platform; and transmitting each of the trading orders to one of the multiple available exchanges for order execution at each exchange,

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing simultaneous connectivity with multiple wireless operators, exchanges, brokerage firms, and banks from the secure computer platform,

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising interfacing with a database server configured to store user profile and authentication information and included within the secure computer platform,

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting comprising converting the trading orders into financial information exchange (FIX) format.

5. A method for processing asset trading transactions on a secure computer platform for automated real-time trading of assets using one or more multiple client devices configured to operate with the secure computer platform over a network across multiple available exchanges, the method comprising:

providing the secure computer platform for automated real-time trading of assets across the multiple available exchanges;

receiving at the one or multiple client devices live trading data from the secure computer platform;

providing from the secure computer platform some of the live trading data in real-time to the one or more multiple client devices;

receiving at the one or multiple client devices from users a plurality of trading orders corresponding to the some live trading data; and

transmitting the plurality of trading orders to the secure computer platform,

6, The method of claim 5, further comprising the one or multiple client devices each having a client application configured to operate with the secure computer platform, wherein the client application provides a user interface with a single click trading mechanism to users of the client devices.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the single click trading mechanism comprises a single click trading button that can be displayed in the user interface and actuated to execute the trading orders corresponding to the trading data.

8, The method of claim 7, further comprising receiving trading parameters for a particular trade provided by a user through the user interface, wherein the single click trading button connects directly to the trading data and generates the orders that go directly into the queue to be executed in order and in real time.

9. The method o f claim 5, further comprising the one or multiple client devices each having a web browser application configured to operate with the secure computer platform, wherein the web browser includes real time quote information, news, profile information and a trading window.

10. An automated real-time asset trading system for processing asset trading transactions across multiple available exchanges on a secure computer platform, the platform included in a computer server having one or more processors and memory, the computer server coupled with one or more client devices configured to operate with the secure computer platform over a network, the system comprising:

one or more modules in the secure computer platform configured to perform the following actions using the one or more processors and the memory of the computer server:

receive at the secure computer platform live trading data from the multiple available exchanges over the secure network;

provide from the secure computer platform some of the live trading data in real-time to the one or multiple client devices;

receive at the secure computer platform from the one or multiple client devices a plurality of trading orders corresponding to the some live trading data;

place the trading orders in a queue of the secure computer platform; and transmit each of the trading orders to one of the multiple available exchanges for order execution at each exchange.

1 1. The asset trading system of claim 10, wherein the one or more modules further provide simultaneous connectivity with multiple wireless operators, exchanges, brokerage firms, and banks from a single platform.

12. The asset trading system of claim 10, further comprising a messaging module to interface with one of the multiple available exchanges and to properly format the live trading data received from one of the multiple available exchanges.

13. The asset trading system of claim 10, the one or more of the modules are further coupled with a database used for storing client profile information, level of service, trading details and other account, authorization and authentication information for each of the system,

14. The asset trading system of claim 10, further comprising a module that converts some of the trading orders into financial information exchange (FIX) format before transmitting each of the trading orders to one of the multiple available exchanges,

15. The asset trading system of claim 10, wherein the system further includes a module that allows a client device to download a software program that when executed in the client's device, enables a user of the client device to set trading parameters using graphical user interface specific to the secure computer platform.

16. The asset trading system of claim 10, wherein the one or more client devices operate with the secure computer platform over the Internet.