Commodity exchange for pre-purchasing commodities and trading future rights to receive commodities

A computer-implemented method for managing a contract for a commodity, the method comprising:

• maintaining in a data store information describing a contract for a commodity, the contract entitling an owner of the contract to redeem the contract to obtain a specified amount of the commodity from a merchant business establishment, the contract further obligating an original seller of the contract or an underwriter associated therewith to pay a spot price upon redemption of the contract, where the spot price is a current market price of the amount of commodity upon redemption;
• receiving a notification that the owner of the contract redeemed the contract to obtain the specified amount of the commodity from a merchant business establishment;
• responsive to the notification, facilitating payment of the spot price to at least one of the owner of the contract and the merchant business establishment;
• and
• charging the spot price to the original seller of the contract or the underwriter associated therewith.

A computer program product for managing a contract for a commodity, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for:

• maintaining in a data store information describing a contract for a commodity, the contract entitling an owner of the contract to redeem the contract to obtain a specified amount of the commodity from a merchant business establishment at a strike price, the contract further obligating an original seller of the contract or an underwriter associated therewith to pay a difference between a spot price and the strike price upon redemption of the contract, where the spot price is a current market price of the amount of commodity upon redemption;
• receiving a notification that the owner of the contract redeemed the contract to obtain the specified amount of the commodity from a merchant business establishment;
• responsive to the notification, facilitating payment of the difference between the spot price and the strike price to at least one of the owner of the contract and the merchant business establishment;
• and
• charging the difference between the spot price and the strike price to the original seller of the contract or the underwriter associated therewith.

A computer program product for managing a contract for a commodity, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for:

• maintaining in a data store information describing a contract for a commodity, the contract entitling an owner of the contract to redeem the contract to obtain a specified amount of the commodity from a merchant business establishment, the contract further obligating an original seller of the contract or an underwriter associated therewith to pay a spot price upon redemption of the contract, where the spot price is a current market price of the amount of commodity upon redemption;
• receiving a notification that the owner of the contract redeemed the contract to obtain the specified amount of the commodity from a merchant business establishment;
• responsive to the notification, facilitating payment of the spot price to at least one of the owner of the contract and the merchant business establishment;
• and
• charging the spot price to the original seller of the contract or the underwriter associated therewith.