Patent ID: 8732065

Claim:
A computerized method of facilitating an electronic transaction that involves an initial item that is the subject of a first order, from a first participant, to buy or sell the initial item, wherein disclosure of the first order, in advance of the transaction, might have an adverse effect on terms of the transaction for the first participant, the method comprising: receiving, from the first participant over a communications network, a message characterizing the first order relative to the initial item; in a first computer process, identifying a set of camouflage items based at least on the initial item, the set of camouflage items being identified in such a way that, in an upcoming crossing event for individual items in a list that includes the initial item and the set of camouflage items, a second participant cannot distinguish which of the items in the list is the initial item, and so that each camouflage item in the set of camouflage items differs from the initial item but shares with the initial item one or more attributes selected from the group consisting of a market, a risk profile, a price range, an investment goal, a physical characteristic, an average daily trading volume, a market capitalization, an economic sector, a volatility, a recent price trend, an expiration date, a securities market criterion, an options market criterion, and a commodity futures market criterion; sending, over the communications network, first notification messages to a set of second participants having contact information in a contact database, the first notification messages notifying the set of second participants of the upcoming crossing event for individual items in the list including the initial item and the set of camouflage items; receiving, from the set of second participants over the communications network, responsive messages characterizing a set of second orders to buy or sell one or more of the items involved in the crossing event; in a second computer process, processing the orders to identify any matches between an order to buy and an order to sell any of the items involved in the crossing event, wherein each such match defines a corresponding set of participants who are successful; and sending, over the communications network, second notification messages notifying each set of successful participants of the corresponding match.