Abstract:
A system and method of providing control of prices in an on screen window having a price held for further transactions on an interface for traders of financial instruments. The interface contains a display of products for trading and respective prices for bids and offers. The user has a control device such as a computer mouse with a roller control. Selection of a particular product results in the display of the price of the product at the instant time the product is selected. The price is held until a confirming key or mouse stroke is received to initiate a trading action such as placing a new order, killing an existing order or hitting or lifting an order. The price can be altered by means of the roller control.

Description:
[0001]     This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/123,614, filed May 6, 2005. This application claims priority to all such previous applications, and all such applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention relates to a system and method of varying prices on screen in an electronic trading interface and more specifically to a system and method for changing prices using a roller device on a user computer control device.  
       BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0003]     Traditional trading of commodities, natural resources or financial instruments such as stocks and bonds has taken place in markets where traders offer various commodities at different prices. Such trades were performed using hand signals and paper was used to finalize the actual trading contract. With the advent of computers, more complex and faster trades may be made by integrating computing power. Additionally, the growth of the Internet and other electronic communications systems has moved the realm of trading beyond the trading floor. Finally, different markets for non-traditional financial products such as energy have been established.  
         [0004]     For example, one recent new trading exchange is the OTC energy market. Traders in the OTC energy market typically agree to prices and terms with another trading counter party for a particular type of derivative in an energy product such as a natural gas swap. This type of trade involves certain common terms such as settlement and payment terms. The trade may be made directly with a counter party, or by phone, or more recently, via an electronic platform such as the Internet. Such trades are recorded by the traders on their trade notebooks and trade data is entered directly into their company&#39;s trade data capture computer systems. These systems generate confirmation documents and summary data relating to the trade.  
         [0005]     Recently, automated systems such as the WebICE software offered by Intercontinental Exchange of Atlanta, Ga. have become available for OTC energy traders via the Internet. Rather than using specialized software and hardware systems, trading is now available with a personal computer capable of running a ubiquitous web browser. The web based automated systems allow on screen display of bid and offer details for products such as commodities, natural resources, financial instruments and derivatives of the same, and instant transmission of instructions via a mouse click of bids and offers of such products. These systems utilize software and secure network systems which are tied to a central market computer.  
         [0006]     Automated software such as WebICE allows a trader to send a fill or execute request on an order as displayed on the computer screen. A user will use a mouse and select a price to bid or offer by clicking on a mouse button or using the keyboard. A user will then move the mouse to a quantity field and select the quantity with a mouse or keyboard. Finally, the user will initiate the order via a mouse or keyboard button to initiate the trading with the other parties through the market exchange server. New orders are queued via an onscreen stack. However, with the speed of electronic transmission, market data which establishes prices and quantities outpaces the ability of humans to process the information and act upon it. Thus, the multiple moves of the mouse in combination with keystrokes may result in delays which result in distortions of the actual price. More advanced software has integrated multiple steps or keystrokes into one action which speeds the transaction.  
         [0007]     For example in WebICE, if a trader wishes to send a fill request on a displayed quantity and price, a single keyboard or mouse interaction will allow a trader to initiate the fill request. A problem arises if the underlying quantity or price changes in the displayed screen. Because of hand/eye lag behind the computer screen, the trader may end up sending a fill request to the exchange with an unintended quantity or price which changed while the trader activated the fill request on the software.  
         [0008]     A similar problem arises in the case of establishing a new order in a stack along with all other active orders in a contract. This feature is important in order to help a trader manage orders. If a trader wishes to send a new order request, a single keyboard or mouse interaction will allow a trader to initiate the new order request. However, if the underlying quantity or price changes in the displayed stack, because of hand/eye lag behind the computer screen, the trader may end up sending an order to the exchange with an unintended quantity or price.  
         [0009]     A further problem arises in a situation where a trader desires to kill an order. Such an order will be in a stack displayed on screen which shows a trader&#39;s own orders in the stack along with all other active orders in a contract. If a trader wishes to cancel/kill an order, a single keyboard or mouse interaction will allow a trader to initiate the kill request. However, if the underlying order moves in the displayed stack, because of hand/eye lag behind the computer screen, the trader may end up acting upon the wrong order.  
         [0010]     Thus, there is a need for an on screen mechanism to lock a price for electronic trade actions over a computer screen. There is a further need for a price lock pop up window to lock a price in the case of an initial selection for placing a new order. There is also a need for a price lock mechanism to lock a price selected to hit a specific order. There is also a need to provide an on screen locking mechanism to preserve the quantity desired for trading transactions. There is an additional need for a mechanism for a user to make adjustments to a price on screen in a convenient and easy manner.  
         [0011]     Thus, there is also a need for an on screen mechanism to enter a price for electronic trade actions over a computer screen with a single click. There is a further need for a single click over window to view a price in the case of an initial selection for placing a new order. There is also a need for a single click mechanism to enter a price selected to enter a specific order.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0012]     These needs and others may be met by the present invention, which has an aspect that is a system for controlling a price in an electronic trading system for products, the trading system including an exchange server coupled to trading computers. The exchange server sends current prices of products for bid or offer by users of the trading computer and the exchange server updates the current prices based on bids or offers. The system further included a computer program having a user interface screen displayed on the trading computers and a user input device having a roller control. The user input device controls a cursor which appears on the user interface screen. The system further includes a series of product orders; a series of cells of prices offered for the product orders; a series of cells of prices bid for the product orders; and a price lock window which appears when the cursor is moved over any cell in the series of cells of prices offered for the products or the series of prices bid for the products. In addition, the price lock window displays the price in the cell at the moment the cursor enters the cell and the roller control allows a user to change the price in the price lock window.  
         [0013]     In another embodiment, the system further includes a series of product orders; a series of cells of prices offered for the product orders; a series of cells of prices bid for the product orders; and a single click order entry window which appears when the cursor is moved over any cell in the series of cells of prices offered for the products or the series of prices bid for the products. In addition, the single click window displays the price in the cell at the moment the cursor enters the cell and the roller control allows a user to change the price in the single click order entry window.  
         [0014]     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are not limiting but are intended to provide further explanation of the invention claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, are included to illustrate and provide a further understanding of the method and system of the invention. Together with the description, the drawings serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0015]     These and further aspects and advantages of the invention will be discussed more in detail hereinafter with reference to the disclosure of preferred embodiments, and in particular with reference to the appended Figures wherein:  
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a computer system for electronic trades of financial products;  
         [0017]      FIG. 2  is a screen shot of the user interface of the trading system;  
         [0018]      FIG. 3  is a screen shot of the user interface of the trading system with the use of a price lock single click order entry to enter a new order;  
         [0019]      FIG. 4  is a screen shot of the user interface of the trading system with the use of a price lock on a kill order;  
         [0020]      FIG. 5  is a screen shot of the user interface of the trading system with the use of a price lock on a hit or lift price;  
         [0021]      FIG. 6  is a screen shot of a selection screen used to activate the price lock feature;  
         [0022]      FIG. 7A-7C  are screen shots of the user interface showing the use of a roller on a mouse to change the price in the single click window. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0023]     While the present invention is capable of embodiment in various forms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be described a presently preferred embodiment with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiment illustrated.  
         [0024]      FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of an electronic trading system  10  which is an example of a platform which uses the price lock popup system of the present invention. The electronic trading system  10  has an exchange server  12  which is provided by a trading exchange such as the Intercontinental Exchange. The trading exchange in this example offers trading in energy related contracts and derivatives but it is to be understood that any type of electronic trading exchange which allows trading of any contract for any product with a degree of fungibility including commodities, natural resources, and financial products of any nature (equities, debt, index products, etc), together with financial derivatives of the foregoing may use the principles discussed herein. The exchange server  12  runs a matching engine software program  14  which provides trading functions for receiving orders, price changes, order cancellations, executing trades and sending data relating to available products such as the market type, the quantity and price of bids and offers, and notification of trades executed in the products (in this example energy related contracts and derivatives) traded over the exchange. The trades are recorded by the matching engine software  14  and stored in a database  16 .  
         [0025]     The exchange server  12  is coupled via a network such as the Internet  18  with trading computers such as computers  20 ,  22 ,  24  and  26 . As will be explained, each of the computers  20 ,  22 ,  24  and  26  have a display and interface software  28  for the submission of offers and bids in markets offered by the exchange server  12 . The interface software  28  also receives and displays market data relating to various markets of interest to a trader or broker from the exchange server  12 . The interface software  28  thus serves as a data interface having market data belonging to the exchange entity which runs the exchange server  12 . The market data is updated by the exchange server  12  to provide current data to the computers  20 - 26 . The market data is stored in a market database (not shown) which is part of the exchange server  12 . Of course, it is to be understood that computers  20 - 26  are merely shown as examples and there can be numerous computers which submit trade data to the exchange server  12 . It is also to be understood there may be multiple servers and other computers which overall perform the functions of the matching engine software  14 , but for simplicity only one server is represented in this example.  
         [0026]     In this example, traders and brokers interface with the exchange server  12  interfaces via computers such as the computer  20  with an Internet browser program  30  having the capability of running Java, HTML and JavaScript. The user is thus presented with a web interface displayed on the user computer  20  to perform the various trading functions according to the interface software  28  or API which is preferably implemented as a Java applet used in conjunction with the web browser program. Of course, it is to be understood that any of the other trading computers  22 ,  24  and  26  may also be capable of running the user interface via a web browser program.  
         [0027]      FIG. 2  is a screen print of a user interface  40  which is generated by the interface program  28  on the computer  20  to allow electronic trading by communication with the exchange server  12 . The computer  20  has a user input device such as a keyboard and a mouse which has a right button, a left button and a roller between the buttons. The user input device allows the user to traverse to different areas of the user interface  40  via an on screen cursor and activate different functions using the buttons and the roller. The user interface  40  has an orders tab  42  which when selected displays a screen showing order data which the user has access to. The user interface  40  has a deal tab  44  which displays a screen showing all trades which the user has access to. A number of user defined portfolio tabs  46  are displayed in alignment with the orders tab  42  and the deal tab  44 . Each of the user defined portfolio tabs  46  when selected displays a window with information relating to markets which are bundled in the portfolio. In the example in  FIG. 2 , a tab  48  representing a specific market portfolio relating to a specific energy commodity (IPE Brent) has been selected. A markets window  50  displays different energy related contracts or derivatives being offered and bid on in rows and has columns which include price, quantity and other data obtained through the exchange server  12 . A trade ticker window  52  is displayed below the market window  50  to show a continuous stream of quotes for different markets.  
         [0028]     The user interface  40  allows a trader to perform various functions relating to markets traded in the exchange. The interface  40  allows a trader to view markets, bid and offer in markets for products, and manage orders. The interface  40  also allows a trader to create and modify portfolios of markets and produce different reports.  
         [0029]     The markets window  50  includes a menu bar  60  which includes a hold on hit/lift selection  62 , a re-link agents selection  64 , a history selection  66  and a formulas selection  68 . The hold on hit or lift selection  62  allows a trader to remove or lift all the orders from a portfolio when one of the orders in the portfolio is executed at the hit price. The re-link agents selection  64  allows a trader to reestablish communications links to the data sources available to the user. The history selection  66  allows a trader to display via the formula selection only. The formulas selection  68  allows a trader to access the formulas model to apply formulas generated on their own computer  20  to data from the exchange server  12  displayed by the user interface  50 .  
         [0030]     A function bar  70  has a kill all selection  72 , an activate all selection  74 , a live only selection  76 , a hold bids selection  78 , a hold all selection  80  and a hold offers selection  82 . The kill all selection  72  allows a user to kill all orders. The activate all selection  74  allows a user to activate all orders which are being held at the exchange or at local Cache. The live only selection  76  allows a user to display all products in the market window  50  which have actual prices and hide the products which do not. The hold bids selection  78  allows a user to hold the bids for all products displayed in the market window  50 . The hold all selection  80  allows a user to hold all bids and offers. The hold offers selection  82  allows a user to hold all offers.  
         [0031]     The user interface  40  also has a number of global actions including a view selection  92 , an admin selection  94 , a help selection  96  and a logout selection  98 . The view selection  92  displays a menu having the options of displaying other screens available. The admin selection  94  allows a user to control the user settings, control portfolios displayed and reset the markets which are available for trading. The help selection  96  provides help instruction screens and the logout selection  98  allows a user to log off the program.  
         [0032]     The markets window  50  has a series of cells organized in a number of rows  100  which display products which are available from the selected market portfolio. The markets window  50  also has a series of cells organized in informational columns  102  which contain information for each product. The informational columns  102  include a product name column  104 , a hub column  106 , a strip column  108 , a sell action column  110 , a bid quantity column  112 , a bid price column  114 , an offer price column  116 , a bid quantity column  118 , a buy action column  120 , a last column  122 , a kill bid column  124 , a working bid quantity column  126 , a working bid price column  128 , a working offer price column  130 , a working offer quantity column  132  and a kill offer column  134 .  
         [0033]     The product name column  104  describes the name of the product which in this example are energy products.  FIG. 2  shows a selection of a product line  140  which is Brent Crude Oil. The hub column  106  describes the physical location of the product which is the North Sea in this example. The strip column  108  is the time of the delivery of the product which is June 2006 in this example. The columns  104 ,  106  and  108  describe the contract being traded.  
         [0034]     An expand option  136  and a shrink option  138  are provided in the informational column  102 . The expand option  136  allows a user to view all of the current bids and offers for the selected product row. The shrink option  138  hides the current bids and offers except for the current best bid or offer.  
         [0035]      FIG. 3  shows the user interface  40  of  FIG. 2  with the single click order entry feature. The sell column  110  indicates the action that is available for the particular product for the user. The sell column  110  for the example row  140  has been expanded to show the action entries for each price offered. These action entries include hit, sweep or X. The hit selection is assigned by the software to determine whether the order may be hit, causing a trade to occur. The sweep indication indicates that the user will take all orders at the specified price in the bid price column  114  and may be enabled by the user. The X indicates that the order which is owned or controlled by the user will be killed if selected.  
         [0036]     The sell quantity column  112  shows the quantity of product units available for the sell column  110  and the bid column  114 . Together these columns  110 ,  112  and  114  describe the bid or buy side. The bid column  114  shows the price that a market participant is bidding for the product. As shown in the product row  140 , different bids at prices ranging from 6.494 to 6.490 have been made for the quantity of 2500. The software arranges the bids from best price to worst price.  
         [0037]     The offer column  116  shows the offers to sell at the prices shown. The quantity column  118  shows the quantity being offered. The buy column  120  shows the action entries available for the user. Together, the columns  116 ,  118  and  120  describe the offer or sell side. The buy column  120  for the example row  140  has been expanded to show the action entries for each price offered. These action entries include lift, sweep or X. The lift selection is assigned by the software to determine whether the order may be lifted or bought. The sweep tag indicates that the user will take all orders at a higher price and may be enabled by the user. The X indicates that the order which is controlled by the user will be killed if the option is selected using the mouse or keyboard.  
         [0038]     Returning to  FIG. 2 , the last column  122  shows the last traded price for the product. The columns  124 - 132  are a working order area to show a trader&#39;s order. The kill column  124  signifies that a user can kill the order by clicking on the displayed X in the kill column  124  via the mouse. The quantity column  126  shows the working quantity of the bid order and the bid column  128  shows the price of the working bid. The offer column  130  shows the price of the working offer and the offer quantity column  132  shows the working quantity of the offer order. The offer kill column  134  shows an X which the trader can use to kill his own order. A pin column  139  indicates if the product should be displayed when using the live only feature  76  even if the product has no active bids or offers or a last traded price.  
         [0039]     The market window  50  and the user interface  40  may be used by a trader to initiate a new order, kill or cancel an order or hit or lift an order. Initiating a new order requires a user to place the mouse pointer over the bid column  114  or the offer column  116  in the row of the product in the market. Initiating a kill order requires a user to place the mouse pointer over sell column  110  or the buy column  120  in the appropriate row of the product where an X is displayed. Hitting or lifting an order requires a user to place the mouse pointer over the sell column  110  or the buy column  120  in the appropriate row of the product and select the hit or lift tab that appears on the screen (not shown).  
         [0040]      FIG. 3  shows the use of a single click order entry window  150  in initiating a new order using the user interface screen  40  shown in  FIG. 2 . The single click order entry window  150  is displayed when the cursor enters a cell of the market window  50  containing an existing price in the bid column  114  signifying an offer. The lock window  150  will display a quantity and price which is shown in the bid column  114  at the moment the cursor enters any of the cells for the product such as the product in row  140 . The lock window  150  also has a lock icon  152  which signifies that the price lock is in effect. The quantity and price will be held in memory and a user will activate the request for a new order at the quantity and price by clicking on a mouse button. The lock window  150  remains on the user interface screen  40  and thus holds the quantity and price unless the cursor is moved from the cell. The new order will be initiated at the current price and quantity matching the price and quantity displayed in the lock window  150  when the user activates the request for the new order.  
         [0041]     A right price lock quantity window  154  and a left price lock quantity window  156  are also displayed above the market window  50  which show two different default quantities. Thus pressing the left button on the mouse will activate the request at the predetermined quantity displayed in the left price lock quantity window  154  and pressing the right button will activate the request at the predetermined quantity displayed in right price lock quantity window  156 . Of course other keys on the keyboard may activate the request at the quantity and price stated in the price lock window  150 .  
         [0042]      FIG. 4  shows the use of a price lock window  160  in initiating a kill order using the user interface screen  40  shown in  FIG. 2 . The floating lock window  160  is displayed when the cursor enters the cell of the market window  50  containing an X in the sell column  110  or the buy column  120  signifying that the order belongs to the user. The lock window  160  will contain a quantity and price which is present at the moment the cursor enters the cell. The quantity and price will be held in memory and a user will kill the order at the quantity and price by clicking on a mouse button. The lock window  160  remains on the user interface screen  40  and thus holds the quantity and price unless the cursor is moved from the cell. The kill order will only be initiated if the current price and quantity match the price and quantity displayed in the lock window  160  when the user activates the kill order. Of course it is to be understood that other keys such as those on the keyboard may activate the kill.  
         [0043]      FIG. 5  shows the use of a price lock window  170  in hitting or lifting an order using the user interface screen  40  shown in  FIG. 3 . The floating lock window  170  is displayed when the cursor enters the cell of the market window  50  containing a hit tag in the sell column  110  or a lift tag in the buy column  120 . The lock window  170  will contain a quantity and price which is present at the moment the cursor enters the cell. The quantity and price will be held in memory and a user will activate the request to hit at the quantity and price by clicking on a mouse button. The lock window  170  remains on the user interface screen  40  and thus holds the quantity and price unless the cursor is moved from the cell. The hit or lift order will only be initiated if the current price and quantity match the price and quantity displayed in the lock window  170  when the user activates the hit or lift order. Of course it is to be understood that other keys such as those on the keyboard may activate the request.  
         [0044]     The settings for the price lock windows displayed in  FIGS. 3-5  are established in a options screen  180  as shown in  FIG. 6 . The options screen  180  is accessed via the admin selection  94  in the user interface  40  in  FIG. 2 . The options screen  180  has a number of settings tabs  182  including a pre-confirms tab  184 . Selecting the pre-confirms tab  184  allows the use of the price lock windows in  FIGS. 3-5  via an OTC price lock selection  186  and a futures price lock selection  188 .  
         [0045]      FIGS. 7A-7C  are screen shots of another feature of the single click order entry window as explained in  FIG. 3 . The standard features of the trading program are identical between  FIGS. 3 and 5  and like elements are assigned like numbers. It is to be understood that the price lock window may be used in any variety of functions as explained in  FIGS. 3-5  above.  FIG. 7A  shows a modified single click window  150  which is displayed whenever the cursor is moved over a bid in the column  114 . The single click window displays the price and quantity as shown in  FIG. 7A . The quantity displayed is that which is preset in the quantity fields  154  and  156 . As in the previous screens, by clicking the right button on the mouse, the right quantity in field  154  is bid to buy, and by clicking the left button on the computer mouse, the left quantity in field  156  will be bid to buy. The roller which is typically between the left and right buttons on a mouse may also be used to adjust the price. When a user rotates the roller in one direction, the price displayed in the single click window will increase in set increments. For example, as shown in  FIG. 7B , the price in the single click window  150  has increased by 0.001 due to rotating the roller forward. Rotating the roller in the opposite direction will result in the price displayed in the price lock window decreasing in set increments as shown in  FIG. 7C  which shows the price in the price lock window  150  has decreased by 0.001. The new price will be the one bid at the set quantity depending on pressing the left or right mouse button. The price increments depend on the market type which is selected. The roller control may control the price in the single click order entry window and in any of the uses which are described above.  
         [0046]     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the method and system of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not limited by the foregoing descriptions but is intended to cover all modifications and variations that come within the scope of the spirit of the invention and the claims that follow.