Patent ID: 7546258

Claim:
A method for calculating, in accordance with a network that comprises links, a joint distribution of forward prices for using the links in the network, said method comprising: a provision step performed via a computer system for providing an observed forward price of a forward contract for each of said links, wherein each of said links has respective bandwidth associated therewith such that the bandwidth is considered a tradable commodity for which the observed forward price is being provided; a determination step performed via the computer system for deriving from the observed forward prices a proposed joint distribution of forward prices by applying a forward pricing process to each of said links, thereby generating a geographical arbitrage in the network, wherein the forward pricing process comprises one or more functions of: Heath-Jarrow-Morton, Clewlow-Strickland, Manoliu-Tompaidis, Brace-Gatareck-Musiela, Jamshidian; an arbitrage reduction step performed via the computer system for reducing the geographical arbitrage in the proposed joint distribution of forward prices by a geographical arbitrage reduction value; a verification step preformed via the computer system for verifying if the proposed joint distribution of forward prices together with the observed forward prices has a defined property in response to the determination step and the arbitrage reduction step, wherein the verification step comprises a detection step for detecting a difference from the defined property of the proposed joint distribution of forward prices together with the observed forward prices, wherein the defined property is a Martingale; a decision step preformed via the computer system for deciding whether or not the detected difference satisfies a defined criterion, wherein the defined criterion comprises a predefined threshold; for satisfying the defined criterion a difference reduction step for reducing the detected difference by adding to the forward pricing process of each of said links the property reduction value; if the verification step results in the defined property being not present a generation step for generating a property reduction value; repeating the determination step, the arbitrage reduction step and the verification step; applying the property reduction value to the forward pricing process of each of said links; deriving from the joint distribution of forward prices a forward price for a specific link; deriving statistical estimates of properties of the property reduction value; and repeating the statistics step sequentially over time to obtain simulations of forward prices.