Patent ID: 7574394

Claim:
A financial instrument tradable between a buyer and a seller comprising: a tradable instrument having a characteristic that tracks an underlying benchmark with an identifiable value, the tradable instrument undergoing change with each change of the underlying benchmark, the underlying benchmark being one of: a debt, equity, commodity, or currency instrument; index containing a debt, equity, currency, or commodity instrument; and derivative on a debt, equity, currency, or commodity instrument; the tradable instrument requiring clearing of the tradable instrument between the buyer and seller through one of a commodities exchange, securities exchange, and an organization approved by the United States Government for clearing financial instruments and wherein the clearing of the tradable instrument is not contingent upon the delivery of the underlying benchmark; and a net carrying charge charged to one of the buyer and the seller if the identifiable value of the underlying benchmark has increased in value and to the other of the buyer and seller if the identifiable value of the underlying benchmark has decreased in value.