Automated system for conditional order transactions in securities or other items in commerce

A trader workstation for trading and negotiating prospective trades for securities referenced in buy and sell orders, based upon conditions set forth in the orders including price represented by an algorithm with constraints thereon, said algorithm representing a willingness to transact wherein price is a dependent variable of the algorithm and dynamically changing price of another security is an independent variable, the price as the dependent variable being continuously changeable responsive to changes in price of the independent variable, comprising;

• a display device for displaying the selected parameters of buy and sell orders in a prioritized sequence in a descending order of favorability across a display field, with the most favorable order at one distal end and the least favorable at the other distal end;
• an input device for entering outgoing orders to be traded or negotiated into the trader workstation;
• and
• a computer for receiving the outgoing orders and incoming order information from traders' terminals, and for controlling the display device, said computer including,
• a comparator for comparing all incoming orders relative to outgoing orders, and
• a sorter that resequences the orders in real-time in the display field as each order is received to reflect changes in the relative favorability of the orders responsive to dynamic changes in price of said another security as the independent variable.

A conditional order transaction network that matches or compares buy and sell orders for a plurality of items based upon conditions set forth within the order, including price represented as an algorithm with constraints thereon, the conditional order transaction network comprising:

• a variable number of trader terminals for entering an order for an item in the form of an algorithm with constraints thereon that represent a willingness to transact, where price of one item is a dependent variable of the algorithm within the constraints and dynamically changing price of another item is an independent variable thereof, the price as the dependent variable being continuously changeable responsive to changes in price of the independent variable, the algorithm representing a buy or sell order;
• and
• controller computer means coupled to each of the trader terminals over a communications network and receiving as inputs, each algorithm with its corresponding constraints;
• and
• means for matching, in accordance with the constraints and conditions, algorithmic or non-algorithmic buy orders with algorithmic or non-algorithmic sell orders, one of the conditions being the requirement that two or more securities are tradable contemporaneously as a contingent trade of those respective securities responsive to changes in price of said another item as the independent variable.

A conditional order transaction network that electronically matches or compares buy and sell orders for a plurality of items from the same or diverse markets based upon conditions set forth within the order, including the represented as an algorithm with constraints thereon, the conditional order transaction network comprising:

• a variable number of trader terminals for entering an order for an item in the form of an algorithm with constraints thereon that represent a willingness to transact, where dynamically changing price is the dependent variable of the algorithm within the constraints and price of another item as an independent variable, the price as the dependent variable being continuously changeable responsive to changes in price of the independent variable, the algorithm representing a buy or sell order;
• and
• controller computer means coupled to each of the trader terminals over a communications network and receiving as inputs, each algorithm with its corresponding constraints;
• means for matching, in accordance with the constraints and conditions, algorithmic or non-algorithmic buy orders with algorithmic or non-algorithmic sell orders, one of the conditions being the requirement that two or more items are tradable contemporaneously as a contingent trade of those respective items;
• and
• simultaneously executing a trade of said items in the same or diverse markets as a single electronically matched trade responsive to dynamic changes in price of said another item as the independent variable.