Patent ID: 7809629

Claim:
A computer implemented method of allocating rights for quoting classes of options on an exchange, the method comprising: maintaining in a database of an option class selection system a ranked database of classes of options available for trading by market participants associated with the exchange; receiving at the option class selection system a request from a market participant having an ownership interest in the exchange to obtain rights to submit quotes in a subset of the plurality of available classes of options, wherein the ownership interest of the market participant is less than an amount necessary to obtain rights to submit quotes in all available classes of options; automatically determining with the option class selection system if a total trading rights value associated with each of the available classes of options in the subset of available classes of options in the request is within a value of the ownership interest associated with the market participant, where each class of options in the subset of the plurality of available classes of options is assigned a trading rights value correlated to a ranking associated with the class of options in the ranked database; and if the request is determined by the option class selection system to be within the value of the ownership interest associated with the market participant, automatically transmitting from the option class selection system an approval of the request.