International commodity trade exchange

An International Commodity Trade Exchange having a central exchange post for providing international commodity information and a plurality of local exchanges in at least two countries around the world. A plurality of user computer terminals are coupled to each of the local exchanges and can request and receive data representing marketing information directly from the central exchange host and transmit data representing bids and offers to any other user terminal around the world through the local exchanges and the host exchange. The communication takes place through a satellite communication network thereby allowing traders associated with any particular local exchange to trade in a selected market with any other trader associated with any other local exchange at any member site located in any country around the world.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a trade exchange system and in particular 
to a world trade exchange having a central exchange host for providing 
international commodity information and a plurality of local exchanges in 
various sites around the world wherein a plurality of user computer 
terminals coupled to each of said local exchanges can request and receive 
data representing marketing information directly from the central exchange 
host and transmit data representing bids and offers to its local exchange. 
There are many different types of commodity exchanges in existence, such as 
the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, and the like. 
Normally, these exchanges function by having brokers who represent clients 
in buying or selling commodities through the particular exchange, as well 
as obtaining market information from the exchanges for clients regarding 
market activity. The markets include, but are not limited to, the futures 
market, cash market, oil market, stock market, and securities market. 
Recently there has been an increase in automated trading exchanges having a 
central processor associated with one or more remote terminals through 
which trades can be made by members of the exchange or that provide market 
information to members of the exchange upon request. Such a system is 
described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,573,747 which, for instance, allows 
institutional investors to communicate anonymously with each other for the 
purpose of arranging trades of listed and over-the-counter securities. 
While the automated systems provide many advantages for traders such as 
preventing or at least inhibiting market manipulation, increasing the 
speeds at which trades are made, time dating the purchase or sale of a 
particular commodity, and the like, there is still no practical provision 
in the art for exchanges located at various sites around the world being 
able to communicate with each other and allow users in one exchange to 
trade through electronics directly with users who are members of other 
exchanges around the world. 
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages and problems of the prior 
art by providing a central exchange host arrangement and system that is in 
communication, through means such as a satellite system, with local 
exchanges located at various sites around the world. A remote terminal 
user member of any one exchange can trade with a remote terminal user 
member of its own exchange or with a user member of any other exchange 
around the world through its local exchange and the central exchange host 
which monitors all of the trades in each of the local exchanges and 
provides market information to a remote terminal user member that belongs 
to any of the local exchanges at the various sites around the world. Thus, 
the user member of any one local exchange can communicate directly with 
the central exchange host to obtain market information relative to any 
member exchange. He can also make bids and offers to any other local 
exchange user member through his own local exchange which communicates 
through the satellite system with the central exchange host and with the 
other selected exchange. Thus, if a user member of the World Energy 
Exchange in Dallas would like to obtain market information concerning 
trading of a particular commodity on a Paris commodity exchange, he may 
communicate directly with the central exchange host and obtain that 
informattion. If the same user member wishes to trade with another user 
member of the Paris Commodity Exchange, he would enter a bid or an offer 
through his remote terminal to his local exchange which would then 
communicate that information to the central exchange host and then to the 
Paris Commodity Exchange through the satellite system where the bid or 
offer would be displayed on the user member remote terminal. Thus, a user 
member of the Dallas World Energy Exchange could effect a commodity trade 
with a user member of the Paris Commodity Exchange or any other member 
exchange around the world. 
The commodity information and trading transaction paths from the individual 
local commodity exchanges takes places as follows. A central gathering 
point (central exchange host) of commodity information from the individual 
local commodity exchanges is established. The commodity information will 
come in via land or satellite communication connections. The information 
is then transmitted via satellite(s) world wide to local exchanges. The 
traders have the necessary equipment to receive the broadcasted commodity 
information at remote user terminals and sort out and display the 
preselected individual exchanges around the world with which they wish to 
trade as well as displaying the commodities in which they are interested. 
From the correlations and observation of the commodity information the 
trader decides upon a position (i.e., bid or offer). The desired position 
is entered and transmitted via satellite to the central gathering point 
and routed to the individual local commodity exchange(s). Upon 
confirmation of receipt by all involved local commodity exchanges 
participating in the submitted position and the acceptance of the position 
by another trader, the central exchange host transmits a position 
confirmation to the individual trader at the remote user terminals 
completing the establishment of a position transaction. 
Information flow is then in two basic forms. First, the gathering and 
subsequent worldwide broadcast of participating local commodity exchanges 
marketing information. This commodity marketing information is received in 
bulk by the traders' rremote user terminals where it is selectively 
displayed. The second information flow is independent of the first but 
uses the same communications paths. The second information flow is a 
transaction consisting of the entry of a proposed commodity trading 
transaction and the notification of its acceptance by a trader member of 
the designated local exchange. The established position and its subsequent 
liquidation or completion is also routed through the central exchange 
host. 
A touch screen data entry system is associated with the remote user 
terminals screen display for displaying input information and data 
representing the bids and offers. By physically touching symbols 
representing a bid or an offer, the commodity selected, and the local 
exchange selected, the pertinent data is input from the user terminal into 
the system for transmission through the user's local exchange, the central 
exchange host, and the selected local exchange to the remote user 
terminals associated with the selected exchange. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a computerized world trade exchange 
comprising a plurality of local computerized trade exchanges located at 
various sites around the world, each local exchange enabling computerized 
trades in markets such as the futures market, cash market, oil market, 
stock market, and the securities market; means in each local exchange for 
identifying the local exchange by a first code; a plurality of user 
computer terminals coupled to each of said local exchanges, each for 
transmitting and receiving trading data representing bids and offers to, 
and from, its respective local exchange; means in each of said user 
terminals for generating a second code for identifying said user terminal; 
a central exchange host having a computer therein and a communication 
system coupling said local exchanges to said central exchange host 
whereupon said central exchange host rreceives from, and transmits to, 
each local exchange said trading data representing user bids and offers 
and identifies each of said local exchanges by recognizing said first code 
and identifies said user terminals by recognizing said second code thereby 
enabling each of said user terminals in any one local exchange to 
communicate said trading data through its respective local exchange and 
said central exchange host to any other user terminal and any other local 
exchange to effect a trade. The central exchange host computer further 
includes means for storing said trading data received from said local 
exchanges and identified by said first code and for storing trading said 
data representing all said user bids and offers transmitted by said user 
terminals and identified by said second code whereby all such trading data 
representing said user bids and offers may be available from said central 
exchange host to any other of said user terminals through its respective 
local exchange to effect a trade. 
The invention also relates to a method of computerizing a world trade 
exchange comprising the steps of establishing a plurality of local 
computerized trade exchanges, each of said local exchanges enabling 
computerized trades in markets such as the futures market, cash market, 
oil market, stock market, and the securities market, locating each of said 
local exchanges at a predetermined one of a like plurality of sites around 
the world, establishing the identity of each local exchange by a first 
code, coupling a plurality of user terminals to each local exchange for 
transmitting and receiving trading data representing user bids and offers 
to, and from, their respective local exchange, establishing the identity 
of each of said user terminals by a second code, establishing a central 
exchange host having a computer therein, and coupling each of said local 
exchanges to said central exchange host by a communication system whereby 
said central exchange host receives from, and transmits to, each local 
exchange said trading data representing user bids and offers and 
identifies each of said local exchanges by recognizing said first code and 
identifies said user terminals by recognizing said second code thereby 
enabling each of said user terminals in any local exchange to communicate 
said trading data through its respective local exchange and said central 
exchange host to any other user terminal in any other local exchange to 
effect a trade. The method also includes storing in said central exchange 
host computer said trading data received from said local exchanges and 
identified by said first code and for storing said data representing all 
said user bids and offers transmitted by said user terminals and 
identified by said second code whereby all such trading data representing 
said user bids and offers may be available from said central exchange host 
to any other of said user terminals through its respective local exchange 
to effect a trade.

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS 
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a plurality of local computerized trade exchanges 
10 are located in various sites around the world. Local exchanges 10 may 
include equipment 11 such as storage devices, encrypting/decrypting 
apparatus, language translators and the like as will be described 
hereinafter. For example, the local exchanges illustrated in FIG. 1 may 
include the Chicago Commodity Exchange, the New York Commodity Exchange, 
the Paris Commodity Exchange, the London Commodity Exchange, the Amsterdam 
Commodity Exchange, and the Kansas City Commodity Exchange. Obviously, 
more exchanges located at other sites around the world could also be added 
to this system and those illustrated in FIG. 1 are for purposes of 
illustration and discussion only and are not intended to be limiting. A 
plurality of user terminals 12 are associated with each of the local 
exchanges 10. Only one of the user terminals 12 is shown in FIG. 1 to be 
associated with each exchange but this is for ease of illustration and 
clarity of explanation only. There could be any number of local user 
terminals 12 communicating with each of the local exchanges 10 shown in 
FIG. 1. 
In addition, each of the local computerized trade exchanges 10 can 
communicate with a central exchange host 14 through a communication system 
such as satellite 16 to obtain market information and transmit and receive 
trading data such as bids and offers to and from any other local exchange 
10. The equipment 11, previously mentioned is also associated with central 
exchange host 14. Thus, if the member at user terminal 12 coupled to the 
Kansas City Commodity Exchange 10 desires to trade a particular commodity 
with a member at user terminal 12 coupled to the particular commodity and 
the name of the London Commodity Exchange 10, he may select and enter the 
name of the London Commodity Exchange at his own terminal and send it 
through the local Kansas City Commodity Exchange 10 and that information 
is transmitted through satellite 16 to the central host exchange 14 which 
relays the information again through satellite communication system 16 to 
the London Commodity Exchange 10. Satellite system 16 may be accessed at 
any time. The information request or user bid or offer trading data will 
then be relayed to each of the local user terminals 12 and if one of the 
local users or members associated with the London Exchange 10 desires to 
trade with the member associated with the Kansas City Exchange 10, he may 
do so. Thus, the system allows any one local user terminal 12 associated 
with any one particular local commodity exchange 10 to communicate with 
and trade, if desired, with any other user terminal 12 associated with any 
other of the local commodity exchanges 10 through the satellite system 16 
and central exchange host 14. 
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a part of the novel system 
illustrating both market information flow and data flow for trading 
purposes. As can be seen in FIG. 2, any one of the remote terminals 12 may 
obtain marketing information directly from the central exchange host 14 
through satellite 16 and thus avoid the requirement of going through the 
local exchange 10. However, should any of the remote terminal users 12 
desire to receive or transmit trading data, such as bids and offers, then 
it must communicate with its local exchange 10 which then not only 
records, but also relays, the trading data through satellite 16 and back 
to the central exchange host 14 who passes that data on to the other local 
exchange 10 with which communication is desired. Thus, data and market 
information flow may take two different paths with the information flow 
going directly from the user terminal 12 through the satellite 16 to the 
international central exchange host 14, while the data transmission 
regarding trades takes place from the remote user terminal 12 through its 
associated local exchange 10 through satellite 16 to the central exchange 
host 14 and then back through the satellite system 16 to the other local 
exchange 10 with which the trade is desired. Market information may also 
be obtained, if desired, through the local exchange 10. 
As stated earlier, all of the local exchanges 10 are computerized and the 
trading rules of the participating exchanges are such that the traders 
operating user terminals 12 on any participating local exchange 10 can 
trade with any other trader terminal 12 associated with any other local 
exchange 10. The U.S. trading rules enforced by the Securities and 
Exchange Commission are the rules by which the network of the present 
invention will operate. Other rules could be followed if allowed and 
adopted. The trades are stored in the local exchange 10 and then 
communicated to the world trade exchange or central exchange host 14. The 
local exchange 10 keeps the permanent records for its users 12 while the 
world trade exchange 14 keeps the permanent records for the local 
exchanges 10. Thus, the central exchange host computer 44 (in FIG. 4) 
would store the trading data received from the local exchange 10 which are 
identified by a first code and the data representing user bids and offers 
transmitted by user terminals 12 and identified by a second code whereby 
all of the trading data representing user bids and offers from any one 
user terminal 12 is available from central exchange host 14 to any user 
terminal 12 through its respective local exchange 10 to effect a trade. 
The world trade exchange 14 records would only be for the local exchanges 
10 that use the system as members while the local exchanges 10 will have 
locally associated traders or users 12 as members that do not access the 
world trade exchange 14 except to obtain market information. Physical 
security of the entire system can be handled in a number of known ways. 
The method chosen is determined by effectiveness and cost. One example is 
the magnetic stripe card (credit card like) that has to be present in a 
power supply accessory for there to be power to the trading terminal 12. 
This, in conjuction with a user password, is more than adequate. Also, 
encryption/decryption circuits will be used for privacy as discussed 
hereafter. 
FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of the necessary equipment for each 
of the remote user terminals 12 with which the user will receive the 
transmitted commodity information and sort out his preselected individual 
exchanges of interest and commodities of interest for display and trading. 
The following is a summary of the major components that will be part of 
the traders computer terminal 12: 
Satellite dish 26: A small commonly-known dish to receive commodity 
information and transmit and receive trading transactions to and from 
local exchanges worldwide. 
Microprocessors(s) 19: The individual computer is a prior art device which 
consists of multiple processors that perform specialized functions 
concurrently. The functions necessary are communications (satellite 
transmission/reception), information security (data 
encryption/decryption), main processing unit (program execution, memory 
management), and display formatting (taking and formatting data into 
screens from memory), all well known in the art. It also includes a code 
which identifies that particular user terminal. 
Monitor 18: High resolution bit map display available in the art. The 
resolution is of sufficient quality to support the trading graphics 
character set and overlapping windows. Color is also a necessity in 
displays that are used for long hours since color will keep the trader 
alert and the color gives another dimension of information that can be 
conveyed to the trader. 
Disk storage 28: The disks are small Winchesters of optional sizes ranging 
from 10 megabytes to 140 megabytes and are well known in the art. 
Tape drive 30: The streaming tape drive is also well known in the art and 
is configured to be able to back up the disks 28. Time to back up the disk 
28 requires no more than 15 minutes and no more than 3 tapes. 
Floppy disk 29: The floppy disk is well known in the art and is used to 
load user programs, to do decision projections, and perform market trend 
predictions. 
Power conditioner 31: Because the terminal will be used worldwide, the 
power module is able to accept varying current levels and continue to 
operate through power fluctuations and even short power outages. Such 
power conditioners are available in the prior art. 
Data entry media 20, 22, 24: The trader considers the terminal 12 to be a 
natural extension of his normal working environment. To accomplish this, 
the interface to the trader is versatile. Data entry is done through a 
normal keyboard 20, a numeric keypad 22, and voice entry 24. Screen 
transitions are accomplished by voice or touch screen entry. Errors and 
event notification are by symbols and voice output. All text and voice 
output are translated to the traders' native language. 
From the correlation and observation of the commodity information presented 
on monitor screen 18, the trader will decide upon a trading position such 
as buy or sell of a particular commodity on a particular local exchange 
that is selected and at a particular price. This desired position will be 
entered as trading data either through keyboard 20, voice data entry 
microphone 24, or a touch screen associated with monitor 18 as will be 
explained hereinafter. Of course, the numeric key pad 22 can be used to 
enter numerical data also. This trading data will be transmitted through 
antenna 26 to satellite 16 and central exchange host 14 (in FIG. 1 and 
FIG. 2) where it will be routed through the selected local exchange 10 to 
the individual user terminals 12 where the trading data is displayed. Upon 
acceptance of the trade data or trade position by any one of the traders 
at user terminals 12 coupled to the involved local commodity exchange 10 
selected to participate in the proposed trade, the central exchange host 
14 will transmit a transaction confirmation to all of the individual 
trader terminal 12 affected by the two local exchanges 10 involved, thus 
completing the establishment of a position transaction. Trade data from 
the different exchanges 10 (constantly being received via the satellite 
dish 26 along with the information of interest that the trader or user has 
selected to be displayed) is updated on the monitor 18 or stored in the 
memory units 28 and 30 allocated to the possible displays the trader wants 
to appear upon request. The capabilities of the components vary depending 
on the requirements of the individual trader. The variables that determine 
the individual trader's hardware requirements are the number of 
commodities and exchanges the trader wants to follow in real-time. The 
components affected are the amount of memory required, the amount of 
storage 28 (winchestor disks), and the speed and size of the streaming 
tape drive 30. Since the traders or users associated with the worldwide 
local exchanges 10 may be located in many countries with different 
languages being spoken, each configuration also contains the necessary 
character translation ability (42 in FIG. 4) to display text in the 
trader's native language even through it may have been generated in a 
different language. The symbols displayed on the screens will make the 
terminals 12 user friendly and will consist of internationally recognized 
symbols as will be discussed hereinafter. Screen navigation and item 
selection by the operator or user is accomplished by a combination of 
touch screen 18, keypad entry 20 and 22 and voice entry 24. Prompting of 
the trader will be accomplished by voice (34 in FIG. 4) and text display 
(48 in FIG. 4). Textual information will be received and printed on a high 
density matrix printer 49 or a laser printer, depending on the required 
speed of printing and the daily volume. 
As indicated earlier, information flow is in two basic forms. The first is 
the gathering and subsequent worldwide rebroadcast of market information 
from participating local commodity exchanges 10. This commodity market 
information consists of data representing the trading of each commodity 
including price, volume, and the like and is then received in bulk by the 
user's terminal 12 where it is selectively displayed according to the type 
of information requested. Satellite transmissions are usually sent in 
large blocks of characters. Such large blocks of data are referred to as 
"in bulk". The block of characters contains information that the trader 
may or may not be interested in, so the software will extract the user 
selected desired information, format it, and display it upon request by 
user terminal 12. 
The second form of information flow is independent of the first, but may 
use the same communication path. This information flow concerns the entry 
of commodity trading transaction data such as the submission of a bid and 
the acceptance of an offer and notification to all users of the submission 
of the bid and the acceptance of the offer and notification to all users 
of subsequent trades on the participating commodity exchanges 10 through 
the central exchange 14 and through the communication paths involving the 
satellites and/or telephone transmission. 
Thus, referring again to FIG. 3, requests for information which are entered 
through either keyboard 20, numeric key pad 22, voice entry microphone 24, 
or the touch screen of monitor 18 are stored in appropriate discs or tape 
storage units 28 and 30. The output from these storage units can be 
coupled either through satellite dish 26 or through telephone lines 32 to 
the desired location. Thus, if market information is being requested from 
other local exchanges, that information will be directly requested from 
the central host exchange 14 through satellite dish 26. If the 
communication input relates to trading, such as bids or offers, it is 
coupled through phone lines 32 to the local exchanges 10 where that 
information then is relayed to other local exchanges 10 through the 
satellite system 16 and the central exchange host 14. 
FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the details of user terminal 12. 
The apparatus disclosed in FIG. 4 is similar to that used in the local 
exchanges 10 and the central exchange host 14. All or part of the 
apparatus disclosed in FIG. 4 may be used in local exchange 10, user 
terminal 12, or central exchange host 14 The exchanges 10 and 14 and user 
terminal 12 will include a satellite receiver/transmitter 36 which will 
include encryption/decryption circuits 37 for security purposes and an 
identification code number circuit 39. Thus, there is a first 
identification code for each local exchange 10 and a second identification 
code for each remote terminal 12. All data which is transmitted to and 
from the satellite 16 will pass through this receiver/transmitter 36 and 
all of the data being received or transmitted will be encoded or scrambled 
so that it has to be either decrypted (descrambled) or encrypted, 
depending upon whether it is being sent or received. Telephone lines 41 
can also be used to communicate to and from the multiple remote user 
terminals 12 to the local exchange 10 or could be used between local 
exchanges 10 and host exchange 14. The satellite system is preferred 
however. Main processor 44 will, of course, have the ability to have data 
input to it through means which can be any type of data input such as 
voice input device 33, touch screen 43, keyboard 45 and/or numeric 
keyboard 47. The main processor 44 accesses main memory 46 as well as 
cache memories 38 and 40 which may be discs or tape. In addition, any data 
contained in memories 38, 40, and 46 may be displayed by monitor 48. The 
local exchanges 10, as well as the central exchange 14, will operate 
preferably as described in copending patent application Ser. No. 548,,319, 
filed Dec. 16,, 1983, but could operate as described in U.S. Pat. No. 
3,573,747. Thus, the international commodity trader, through the remote 
user terminal 12, will be able to trade with any other international 
commodity trader member associated with any other local exchange 10. 
Market information from the different local exchanges 10 (FIG. 1) is 
constantly being received by the central exchange host 14 via satellite 
dish 16 and that market information that the trader has selected to be 
displayed is updated constantly on the monitor 18 of remote user terminal 
12 or in the memory 38, 40, or 46 allocated to the possible commodities 
the trader wants to appear upon request. 
The symbols displayed on the screens may consist of well-known 
internationally recognized items. Such symbols form an alternate character 
set definition of international trading symbols that are graphics 
characters. Most character sets in the prior art consist of 127 characters 
which include the alphabet (upper and lower case) and numbers 0-9. The 
rest of the 127 characters are special characters, such as 
(!@#$%.cent.().sub.-- =-[]) and the like. The trading character set would 
be defined as 127 graphic symbols that would be used for display and data 
input. The user at terminal 12 could input them from a keyboard 47 like 
normal characters while holding down a special key. The current use of the 
shift key to get capitals would be an example. For example, oil may be 
shown as a barrel of oil or an oil derrick, corn may be shown as a corn 
cob, cattle may be shown as a steer, etc. As stated earlier, screen 
navigation and item selection are accomplished by a combination of touch 
screen, key pad entry, and voice entry. Prompting of the trader will be 
accomplished by voice and text display. Textual information will be 
received and printed on a high density matrix printer or a laser printer, 
depending upon the required speed and the daily volume. 
When the international trader at the remote terminal 12 desires to 
communicate, he accesses the computer 44 (in FIG. 4) in any well-known 
manner as, for instance, through either the keyboard 20, touch screen 18, 
or voice entry 24 shown in FIG. 3 and has a trader access control screen 
displayed as shown in FIG. 5. This screen is the initial access screen 
that the trader uses. This screen is presented from the local exchange 10 
of which the trader is a member or directly from the central information 
exchange 14 via satellite 16. Physical access security can be restricted 
by a variety of means. The least exotic is key access to the power switch. 
The more exotic is retinal and/or finger print verification. The patterns 
of finger prints or retinal patterns can be stored in the trader's 
terminal and verified periodically or at each major transaction input. 
With the screen shown in FIG. 5, the remote user enters the first and last 
name and access code number. This may be done through keyboard 20 or by 
voice entry 24 (in FIG. 3). If there is any difficulty, there may, for 
example, be a phone number 55 at the bottom of the screen to give 
instructions on how to correct the problem. 
If the name and access code is correct, the system produces the commodity 
selection screen shown in FIG. 6. Obviously this may be simply the first 
page of a number of pages of display screens illustrating the various 
commodities that can be traded. The user will select any of the particular 
commodities in which he is interested by touching the appropriate area 50 
which may contain the internationally known symbol described previously 
(not shown) or entering the name in any other well-known manner and the 
selected commodity will be remembered by the computer 19 (in FIG. 3). The 
commodity selected, as well as the order of selection, determines which 
commodities appear on which of the real-time displays. This screen 
represented in FIG. 6 is one of the setup screens that enables the trader 
to customize the display to his/her interest. If, for example, the user is 
interested in obtaining market information on gold, silver, wheat, and 
soybeans, he touches the appropriate areas 50, or orally recites the names 
of the commodities, or enters the names through the keyboard 20 in FIG. 3. 
The system accepts the selected information in the normal fashion, such as 
by use of the word ENTER either through the keyboard, orally, or by touch 
screen. 
The user selects the previous screen or the next screen by touching shaded 
area 51 to generate the necessary control information. 
In any event, the next screen produced is the commodity exchange 
information selection screen shown in FIG. 7. This set of screens is used 
by the trader to select the local exchanges 10 from which information on 
the selected commodities would be received. As the information arrives at 
the trader's terminal 12, the commodities and exchanges 10 that the trader 
has selected are filtered out and displayed, the others ignored. This 
ability to select the set of information to be displayed in real-time 
enables the trader to concentrate on the information that is important. 
The unmanageable total volume of information is transformed by the 
intelligent terminal 12 to a concise subset. The trader is able to alter 
his selection of exchanges 10 and commodities at will. The user may be 
interested in the particular commodity selected on the screen in FIG. 6 as 
it is traded on several different local exchanges. He may, for example, 
select Nymex, Comex, the Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago Mercantile, and 
Brussels exchanges. Again these may be selected by touch screen, voice 
entry, or keyboard entry from the screen in FIG. 7. 
Also, as described previously with respect to FIG. 6, the user may select 
the previous screen or the next screen by touching areas or symbols 51 to 
generate the appropriate control signals or information. 
The screen in FIG. 8 is then displayed which is the selected commodity 
display formatting. The FIG. 8 screen is selected by the trader when 
he/she wants to change the order of the selected commodities. The numbered 
squares are the screen designations. Each square shows what will be 
displayed on the real-time commodity tracking screens. The trader can 
change the order and screen that a commodity is shown on by selecting and 
touching the shaded areas in the new order desired. The screen is then 
altered to reflect the new order as each change is made. There is the 
ability to cancel the changes requested in total. For instance, if the 
area or symbol representing oil in FIG. 8 is touched, it would appear on 
the area 52 where gold is shown and then all of the commodities beginning 
with gold would simply be shifted one space to the area below it, thus 
rearranging priority. The FIG. 8 screen is one of several necessary to 
enable the trader to make new display order selections. The four selected 
commodities shown in the boundary designated by the numeral 1 (gold, 
silver, wheat, and soybeans) may be selected by touching each associated 
area 52 in sequential order or using voice data entry in sequential order 
or entering the commodities sequentially through a keyboard or orally as 
described previously. 
When that is accomplished, the display is then altered, as indicated in 
FIG. 9, wherein the highest bid and lowest offer gold prices for the 
various exchanges selected are shown, the corresponding wheat prices for 
the same exchanges are shown, the corresponding silver prices for the same 
exchanges are shown, and the corresponding soybean prices for the same 
exchanges are shown. FIG. 9 also includes touch areas shown shaded which 
will generate control signals which allow the trader to call up exchange 
rules, trading defaults, messages, existing times at each of the local 
exchanges, select the next page, exit, buy, or sell. The FIG. 9 screen 
illustrates one of the real-time displays of the selected commodities from 
the selected exchanges 10. The dollar amount across from the commodity 
name is the summary position of the commodity compiled from the selected 
exchange. The prices on this screen and the screens that follow it change 
in real-time. The touch function selections shown as shaded areas on the 
right hand of the screen generate appropriate control information or 
signals and provide the trader access to pertinent exchange information 
when touched. The "rules" selection accesses the on-line exchange rules 
for each exchange. The "exchange defaults" selection selects a screen 
where the trader enters the standard information that each exchange 10 
would need for trading, such as user password and the like. The necessary 
trading information is entered at the bottom of the screen in FIG. 9 in 
the appropriate blanks and the BUY or SELL shaded area touched and the 
proposed transaction is entered. Confirmation that the proposed 
transaction has been delivered to the proper exchange is displayed in the 
blank area in the bottom right hand corner of the FIG. 9 screen. 
If a message comes in from one of the exchanges for the trader, the 
"message" touch area is highlighted and the trader selects it to read the 
message and respond if necessary. The "times" touch selection shows a 
screen of clocks of the existing time at each of the exchanges and their 
open and close times. The "exit" and "next" touch areas perform the normal 
screen navigation functions. 
The commodity boxes in FIG. 9 where the current prices are shown are also 
touch areas (see FIG. 10). When the commodity area is touch selected (for 
example, by touching a symbol such as the numeral 1), the commodity data 
expands to a whole screen as shown in FIG. 10 containing more information 
than price, such as volume, highs and lows, etc., for each exchange. From 
this expanded set of screens a touch selection of one of the areas would 
again expand to a full screen of information about that area's related 
activity, such as a particular commodity and the trader's current position 
in the selected commodity. Thus, if area 54 of screen 53 in FIG. 10 is 
touched, it expands to screen 55. If area 56 is touched, it further 
expands to screen 58, and if area 60 is touched, it expands to area 62. 
Navigation backwards through the expanded screens is by selection of the 
"exit" touch selection shown in FIG. 9. FIG. 10 thus illustrates the 
explosion of information from the commodity price display screen to the 
more detailed information display screens. If a trade is desired regarding 
any of these commodities, the operator or international trader merely 
enters on the screen in FIG. 9 the name of the exchange in which he is 
interested in the blank designated "exchange", the commodity in which he 
is interested in the blank designated "commodity", the quantity of the 
commodity in which he is interested in the blank designated "quantity", 
and the price that he willing to pay or at which he is willing to sell in 
the blank designated "price". The trades can then take place. 
Each trader should consider his remote terminal as a natural extension of 
his normal working environment. To accomplish this, the interface to the 
trading system is versatile. Data entry is done as indicated through a 
normal keyboard, a numeric key pad, and/or voice. Screen transitions are 
accomplished by voice or touch screen entry. Errors and event notification 
are by symbols and voice output. All text and voice output will be 
translated to the trader's native language. 
Thus, there has been disclosed a computerized world trade exchange which 
enables individual remote terminal users or traders to obtain information 
concerning, or to make, and receive bids and offers to, and from, any 
other trader associated with any other exchange around the world through 
their own local exchanges which communicate through a satellite system to 
a central exchange which records and handles all data transactions. 
While the invention has been described in connection with a preferred 
embodiment, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the 
particular form set forth, but, on the contrary, it is intended to cover 
such alternatives, modification, and equivalents as may be included within 
the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.