System for matching orders for futures contracts which facilitate electronic trading of over the counter futures contracts

A computerized method for handling orders for an asset, the method comprising the steps of:

• a computerized matching engine determining whether an order received from an order handling system for an asset matches any previous contra-side order that the order handling system had previously sent to an electronic exchange;
• if the determining determines that there is no matching previous contra-side order, sending the received order to the electronic exchange;
• and
• if the determining determines that there is a matching previous contra-side order, the matching engine generating an instruction to the electronic exchange to revise the previous contra-side order sent to the electronic exchange and the matching engine performing a non-exchange based trade based on the order received from the order handling system and the matching previous contra-side order.

An order handling system for handling orders for an asset, the system comprising:

• one or more computers of a matching engine being arranged to determine whether a received order matches any previous contra-side order that the system had previously sent to an electronic exchange;
• wherein, if it is determined that there is no matching previous contra-side order, the system sends the received order to the electronic exchange;
• and
• wherein, if it is determined that there is a matching previous contra-side order, the matching engine (a) generates an instruction to the electronic exchange to revise the matching previous contra-side order sent to the electronic exchange and (b) performs a non-exchange based trade based on the received order and the matching previous contra-side order.

An electronic trading system, comprising:

• an order handling system for handling orders for an asset, the order handling system comprising:
• one or more order input devices structured to receive an order for an asset;
• and
• a matching engine that matches orders received by the one or more order input devices,
• the matching engine being arranged to determine whether a received order matches any previous contra-side order that the order handling system had previously sent to an electronic exchange;
• wherein, if it is determined that there is no matching previous contra-side order, the order handling system sends the received order to the electronic exchange;
• and
• wherein, if it is determined that there is a matching previous contra-side order, the matching engine (a) generates an instruction to the electronic exchange to revise the matching previous contra-side order sent to the electronic exchange and (b) performs a non-exchange based trade based on the received order and the matching previous contra-side order.

A tangible computer readable medium that stores a computer program that, when executed by a computerized matching engine that matches orders submitted to an order handling system for handling orders for an asset, causes the computerized matching engine to perform the steps of:

• determining whether an order received from an order handling system for an asset matches any previous contra-side order that the order handling system had previously sent to an electronic exchange;
• if the determining determines that there is no matching previous contra-side order, sending the received order to the electronic exchange;
• and
• if the determining determines that there is a matching previous contra-side order, the computerized matching engine generating an instruction to the electronic exchange to revise the previous contra-side order sent to the electronic exchange and the computerized matching engine performing a non-exchange based trade based on the received order and the matching previous contra-side order.