Patent ID: 8046293

Claim:
A computer trading system for determining a calculated value for a user defined contract on at least one future characteristic of a financial market, comprising: a first receiving component for receiving one or more parameters from a user over a first communication network, the one or more parameters defining a user defined contract on the at least one future characteristic of the financial market; a second receiving component for receiving financial market data concerning the financial market over a second communication network; a calculating component in communication with the first and second receiving components and operable to determine a calculated value for the user defined contract that will be offered to the user so that the user can purchase the user defined contract at the calculated value, the calculated value determined based on the one or more parameters and the financial market data; a transmission component in communication with the calculating component for transmitting the calculated value to the user via the first communication network; and a third receiving component in communication with the calculating component for receiving over the first communication network an order for the user defined contract from the user based on the calculated value and the one or more parameters to thereby form the user defined contract and create an obligation for a bookmaker to pay a payout upon the occurrence of the at least one future characteristic of the financial market satisfying the one or more parameters.