Patent ID: 7024387

Claim:
A conditional order transaction network that matches or compares buy and sell orders for a plurality of items based upon conditions set forth within the order, including a price represented as an algorithm with constraints thereon, the conditional order transaction network comprising: a variable number of trader terminals for entering an order for an item in the form of an algorithm with constraints thereon that represent a willingness to transact, where the price is the dependent variable of the algorithm within the constraints and dynamically changing price of another item is an independent variable, the price as the dependent variable being continuously changeable responsive to changes in price of the independent variable, the algorithm representing a buy or sell order; controller computer means coupled to each of the trader terminals over a communications network and receiving as inputs, each algorithm with its corresponding constraints; means for matching, in accordance with the constraints and conditions, algorithmic buy orders with algorithmic sell orders; one of the conditions being the requirement that two or more securities are tradable contemporaneously as a contingent trade of those respective securities, and means for matching or comparing, in accordance with the constraints and conditions, algorithmic buy/sell orders with non-algorithmic sell/buy orders; one of the conditions being the requirement that two or more securities are tradible contemporaneously as a contingent trade of those respective securities, and wherein the order algorithm can be represented as a line in two dimensional space with constraints having the price of one security as one axis and the price of another security as its other axis.