Patent ID: 8036965

Claim:
A method for distributing price data corresponding to tradeable objects in an electronic trading environment, comprising: determining, by a master channel device, assignment of a plurality of tradeable objects to a number of channels designated to multicast the price data to receiving computer devices over a network, wherein the assignment is determined according to a criterion selected from the group consisting of: a type of tradeable object, the amount of market data provided for at least one of the plurality of tradeable objects, traded volume for at least one of the plurality of tradeable objects, historical market information for at least one of the plurality of tradeable objects, and a subscription request for at least one of the plurality of tradeable objects; dynamically assigning, by the master channel device, the plurality of tradeable objects to the number of channels based on the assignment; communicating, by the master channel device, assignment information to the receiving computer devices on the network, the assignment information providing the receiving computer devices with information pertaining to the assignment of the plurality of tradeable objects to the number of channels; dynamically updating, by the master channel device, the assignment information in response to a change associated with the criterion used to determine the assignment information and communicating the updated assignment information to the receiving computer devices; and responsively, communicating price data over the network to each of the receiving computer devices according to both the updated assignment information and the previous assignment information so that each of the receiving computer devices can switch to appropriate channels.