Methods and apparatus relating to the formulation and trading of investment contracts

A data processing system to enable the formulation of potential multiparty investment contracts, the system comprising:

• input means by which an ordering party can input contract data relating to a least one phenomenon, each said phenomenon having a range of future outcomes and a future time of maturity, the contract data including a set of probabilities of occurrence for each outcome in said range and a consideration due to a counterparty at or after the time of matching, and further by which at least one counterparty can input registering data including a set of probabilities of occurrence for each outcome in said range;
• and
• data processing means operable to price a contract for a said phenomenon from said contract data and said registering data, the pricing including:
• applying at least one template of entitlement as a function of outcome to each counterparty's set of probabilities to give one or more individual counterparty prices each equal to the ordering party's consideration;
• and
• applying the ordering party set of probabilities to each said template of entitlement to derive an implied entitlement valuation.

A data processing system to enable the formulation of potential multi-party investments contracts, the system comprising:

• input means by which an ordering party can input contract data relating to at least one phenomenon, each said phenomenon having a range of future outcomes and a future time of maturity, the contract data including a set of probabilities of occurrence for each outcome in said range and a consideration due to a counterparty at or after the time of matching, and further by which at least one counterparty can input registering data including a set of probabilities of occurrence for each outcome in said range;
• and
• data processing means operable to price and match a contract for a said phenomenon from said contract data and said registering data, the pricing including:
• dividing the consideration into components, and for each component;
• applying at least one template of entitlement as a function of outcome to each counterparty's set of probabilities to give one or more individual counterparty prices each equal to the ordering party's component consideration;
• and applying the ordering party set of probabilities to each said template of entitlement to derive an implied component entitlement valuation;
• the matching including:
• determining which counterparty will provide the best entitlement on maturity by comparing each implied component entitlement valuation with the consideration;
• and
• matching the contract with the counterparties having templates of entitlement for the best said component comparisons.

A method for the formulation of multi-party investment contracts, the method comprising the steps of:

• inputting ordering party contract data relating to at least one phenomenon, each said phenomenon having a range of future outcomes and a future time of maturity, the contract data including a set of probabilities of occurrence for each outcome in said range and a consideration due to a counterparty at or after the time of matching;
• inputting counterparty registering data including a set of probabilities of occurrence for each outcome in said range;
• and
• pricing and matching a contract for a said phenomenon from said contract data and said registering data, said step of pricing, for each counterparty, including:
• applying at least one template of entitlement as a function of outcome to the set of probabilities included in the counterparty registering data to give one or more individual counterparty prices;
• and
• applying the ordering party set of probabilities to each individual counterparty template of entitlement to derive an implied entitlement valuation;
• said step of matching including:
• determining which counterparty will provide the best entitlement on maturity by comparing the implied entitlement valuations with the consideration;
• and matching the contract with the counterparty having a template of entitlement for the best said comparison.

A method for the formulation of potential multi-party investment contracts, the method comprising the steps of:

• inputting ordering party contract data relating to at least one phenomenon, each said phenomenon having a range of future outcomes and a future time of maturity, the contract data including a set of probabilities of occurrence for each outcome in said range and a consideration due to a counterparty at or after the time of matching;
• inputting counterparty registering data including a set of probabilities of occurrence for each outcome in said range;
• and
• pricing a potential contract for a said phenomenon from said contract data and said registering data, said step of pricing, for each counterparty, including:
• applying at least one template of entitlement as a function of outcome to the set of probabilities included in the counterparty registering data to give one or more individual counterparty prices;
• and applying the ordering party set of probabilities to each individual counterparty template of entitlement to derive an implied entitlement valuation.

A method for the formulation of multi-party investment contracts, the method comprising the steps of:

• inputting ordering party contract data relating to at least one phenomenon, each said phenomenon having a range of future outcomes and a future time of maturity, the contract data including a set of probabilities of occurrence for each outcome in said range and a consideration due to a counterparty at or after the time of matching;
• inputting counterparty registering data including a set of probabilities of occurrence for each outcome in said range;
• and
• pricing and matching a contract for a said phenomenon from said contract data and said registering data, said step of pricing, for each counterparty, including:
• dividing the consideration into components and for each component:
• applying at least one template of entitlement as a function of outcome to the set of probabilities included in the counterparty registering data to give one or more individual counterparty prices;
• and applying the ordering party set of probabilities to each individual counterparty template of entitlement to derive an implied component entitlement valuation;
• said step of matching including:
• determining which counterparty will provide the best entitlement on maturity by comparing the implied component entitlement valuations with the consideration;
• and
• matching the contract with the counterparty having templates of entitlement for the best said component comparisons.