Patent ID: 7644027

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of providing a market process on a computer system, comprising: selecting, via at least one computer in the computer system, a market methodology from a set of market methodologies, each of the market methodologies comprising rules of engagement for trading an item between at least two trading processes; specify in values for the selected market methodology via at least one computer in the computer system, wherein the values indicate: a maximum amount of time for the market process to return a price for an item in response to receiving an order for the item, a pricing methodology used by the market process to determine the price for the item, and an amount of time that the price for the item can be relied upon for executing a trade after the price is returned; publishing the specified values for the selected market methodology to a plurality of trading processes via at least one computer in the computer system, wherein the trading processes and the market process are each computer program entities executing on the computer system; automatically, via at least one computer in the computer system, receiving an order from at least one trading process for trading an item with another trading process according to the selected market methodology; and automatically, via at least one computer in the computer system, processing the order according to the selected market methodology.