Patent ID: 9460468
Filing Date: 2016-10-04
CPC Classification: G06Q

Claim Text:
1. A computer implemented method of facilitating a payment between a first trader and a second trader by a central counterparty which requires the first and second traders to each maintain associated accounts in which funds are deposited to cover trading losses, the central counterparty comprising a payment processor, a settlement processor, a margin processor, and a memory coupled with the payment, settlement and margin processors, the method comprising: providing, by the central counterparty, an account database stored in the memory, the account database comprising a first account record associated with the first trader which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the first trader, and a second account record associated with the second trader which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the second trader; determining, by the payment processor, the amount of a payment to be made from one of the first or second trader to the other of the first or second trader in advance of settlement thereof; assigning, automatically by the payment processor, the first trader a first position in a futures contract characterized by a settlement date, a quantity and a price, the first position being characterized by a value based on the quantity and the price of the futures contract as of the assigning; assigning, automatically by the payment processor, the second trader a second position, counter to the first position, in the futures contract, the first and second traders not being identified to each other, wherein the assigning to the first and second traders is automatically performed by the central counterparty based on another position in another instrument held by the first trader to which the second trader is a counterparty; valuing, by the settlement processor upon occurrence of the settlement date, the futures contract at a spot value different from the price of the futures contract, the spot value being based on the determined payment amount; modifying, by the margin processor, the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a credit to the account of the first trader and a debit from the account of the second trader in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the second trader; and modifying, by the margin processor, the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a debit from the account of the first trader and a credit to the account of the second trader in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the first trader.