Patent ID: 7444300

Claim:
A computer-based method for managing an investment fund having (i) a portfolio comprised of any combination of financial instruments and cash and (ii) a general class of fund shares tradable in a secondary market, wherein assets enter and are removed from said investment fund through an exchange-traded fund share creation and redemption process governed by a set of rules, the method comprising: at least one of specifying and delivering information that identifies a combination of financial instruments and cash to be exchanged for a specified number of shares of said general class of fund shares; receiving a notice of commitment to create or redeem shares of said general class of fund shares by a specified time prior to a time prices are determined for calculating a net asset value of said general class of fund shares and calculating a value of said financial instruments and cash exchangeable for a specified number of shares of said general class of fund shares; at least one of (i) creating new shares of said general class of fund shares by receiving any combination of financial instruments and cash exchangeable for said new shares; and (ii) redeeming existing shares of said general class of find shares by delivering any combination of financial instruments and cash exchangeable for said existing shares; and wherein said specifying and delivering steps, said receiving step, and said creating and redeeming step are executed by one or more computers.