Products and processes for order distribution

Abstract

Systems and methods for trading financial instruments through multiple trading intermediaries are described.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 computing, by a computing device, a first distribution of first sub-parts for a participant's first desire to engage in an exchange of an instrument;   in response to computing the first distribution, attempting, by the computing device, to fulfill the participant's first desire through a plurality of matching venues according to the first distribution of first sub-parts;   receiving, by the computing device, an indication identifying a change to a sum of respective quantities from a plurality of second desires for the same exchange of the instrument through at least one matching venue of the plurality of matching venues;   in response to receiving the indication, computing, by the computing device, a second distribution of second sub-parts for the first desire the plurality of matching venues based at least in part on the change; and   in response to computing the second distribution, attempting, by the computing device, to fulfill the first desire through the plurality of matching venues according to the second distribution of second sub-parts.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the indication identifying the change to the sum includes an indication of a fulfillment of at least a portion of at least one of the plurality of second desires. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the indication identifying the change to the sum includes an indication of a fulfillment of at least a portion of the first desire. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , in which attempting to fulfill according to the second distribution includes placing a plurality of requests, in which each of the plurality of requests is placed on one of the plurality of matching venues in accordance with the second distribution. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , in which at least one of the plurality of matching venues fulfills desires in at least a partially pro-rata fashion. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , in which the at least one of the plurality of matching venues fulfills orders in a hybrid pro-rata and FIFO fashion. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , in which at least one other of the plurality of matching venues fulfills orders in a FIFO fashion. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , in which the at least one of the plurality of matching venues fulfills orders in a pro-rata fashion that includes business logic elements. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , in which determining the second distribution includes determining the second distribution based at least in part on an expected quantity of a third desire expected to be received by at least one of the plurality of matching venues, in which the third desire involves the instrument and an opposite side of the exchange. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , in which the expectation of the quantity is based on a history of desires received by the at least one of the plurality of matching venues. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , in which determining the second distribution includes determining the second distribution based on an expected rate of desire fulfillment of at least one of the plurality of matching venues. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , comprising:
 receiving an indication of a change to the expected rate; and   in response to receiving the indication of the change to the expected rate, computing a third distribution of third sub-parts of the first order among the plurality of matching venues based at least in part on the change to the expected rate; and   attempting to fulfill the first desire through at least one of the plurality of matching venues based on the third distribution.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , in which determining the second distribution includes determining the second distribution based on a method of fulfilling desires performed by at least one of the plurality of matching venues. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , comprising determining the method of fulfilling desires based on at least one of an indication of a history of desires fulfilled on the at least one matching venue, and a description of the method of fulfilling desires. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , in which determining the second distribution includes determining the second distribution based at least in part on a chance that at least one second desire pending on the at least one of the plurality of matching venues will not be fulfilled by a third desire received by the at least one of the plurality of matching venues because a quantity associated with the at least one second desire is small. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the second distribution defines a respective portion of a quantity associated with the first desire to be placed through each of the plurality of matching venues. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 receiving an indication identifying the first desire;   receiving an indication of a rate at which desires to engage in the exchange for the instrument are expected to be fulfilled by at least one first matching venues of the plurality of matching venues;   receiving an indication of at least one quantity from a third desire for the same exchange pending on at least one second matching venue of the plurality of matching venues;   receiving an indication of a method used by at least one third matching venue of the plurality of matching venues to fulfill desires pending on the matching venue when matching desires are received by the third matching venue; and   in which computing the first distribution includes computing the first distribution based at least in part on the rate, the at least one quantity, and the method.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , in which the first matching venue, second matching venue, and the third matching venue are the same matching venue. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , in which determining the second distribution includes determining an expected rate of desire fulfillment through the each of the plurality of matching venues, and determining the distribution to increase an expected overall rate of desire fulfillment using the plurality of matching venues. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , in which determining the first distribution includes determining a distribution that has an increase in expected speed of fulfillment compared to an expected speed of fulfillment of submitting the first desire to a single matching venue of the plurality of matching venues, and in which determining the second distribution includes determining a distribution that has an increase in expected speed of fulfillment compared to the first distribution. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the instrument includes a financial instrument. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , in which the financial instrument includes at least one of money, credit, a bond, a bond futures contract, an interest rate swap, a security, a stock option, a commodity, an equity, a currency, and a derivative. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the at least one matching venue includes a trading environment. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , in which the trading environment includes an exchange. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , in which the exchange includes a computer system configured to receive indications of desires, determine if any of the indicated desires match, and facilitate a transfer to fulfill at least some of the matching desires. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the first desire includes a first order for an instrument to be traded and identifies a quantity of the instrument to be traded and a side of trades for the instrument. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , in which each second desire of the plurality of second desires identifies a respective quantity of the instrument to be traded and the same side of trades for the instrument. 
     
     
         28 . An apparatus comprising:
 a computing device, and   a non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that when executed by the computing device cause the computing device to:   compute a first distribution of first sub-parts for a participant's first desire to engage in an exchange of an instrument;   in response to computing the first distribution, attempt to fulfill the participant's first desire through a plurality of matching venues according to the first distribution of first sub-parts;   receive an indication identifying a change to a sum of respective quantities from a plurality of second desires for the same exchange of the instrument through at least one matching venue of the plurality of matching venues;   in response to receiving the indication, compute a second distribution of second sub-parts for the first desire the plurality of matching venues based at least in part on the change; and   in response to computing the second distribution, attempt to fulfill the first desire through the plurality of matching venues according to the second distribution of second sub-parts.   
     
     
         29 . An apparatus comprising:
 a computing device, and   a non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that when executed by the computing device cause the computing device to:   receive an indication identifying a first desire to engage in an exchange of an instrument;   receive an indication of a rate at which desires for the exchange of the instrument are expected to be fulfilled by at least one first matching venue of a plurality of matching venues;   receive an indication of at least one quantity, in which each quantity of the at least one quantity includes a total of quantities associated with at least one respective second desire to engage in the exchange through at least one second matching venue of the plurality of matching venues;   receive an indication of a method used by at least one third matching venue of the plurality of matching venues to fulfill orders pending on the at least one third matching venue when matching desires are received by the third matching venue;   based at least in part on the rate, the at least one quantity, and the method, compute a distribution of sub-parts of the first desire among the plurality of matching venue; and   attempt to fulfill the first desire through the plurality of matching venues according to the distribution of sub-parts to the plurality of matching venues.   
     
     
         30 . An apparatus comprising:
 a computing device, and   a non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that when executed by the computing device cause the computing device to:   receiving, by the computing device, an indication identifying a change to a sum of respective quantities from a plurality of second desires for the same exchange of the instrument through at least one matching venue of the plurality of matching venues;   in response to receiving the indication, computing, by the computing device, a distribution of second sub-parts for the first desire the plurality of matching venues based at least in part on the change; and   in response to computing the second distribution, attempting, by the computing device, to fulfill the first desire through the plurality of matching venues according to the second distribution of second sub-parts.