CA2247119A1 - Universal contract exchange - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention concerns trading in financial instruments, such as by use of a computer based cash management facility electronically linked to a computer based clearing house, and an automated real time screen trading system operated by the investor using standard personal computers linked by a communications network to a central clearing house computer. In particular, this invention concerns a contract exchange and protocol, and in another aspect it concerns a financial instrument. The contract exchange may provide direct entry to the market, and the opportunity to trade 24 hours a day, to potential investors from every office and home in the world. Trading need never cease on the Contract Exchange even with an external world catastrophe.

Description

"UNIVERSAL CONTRACT ~:XCHANGE"
Technical Field This illvention concerns trading in fi--~nc:i~l insh~uments, such as by use of a computer based cash managel~ellt trust electronically lillked to a computer based clearing house, and an automated real time screen trading system operated by the investor using standald personal computers linked by a commullicatiolls network to a central clearing house computer.
In particular, this inventioll concerns a contract exchange and protocol, and in another aspect it concerns a finRnf.iRl instrument.
Back~round Art ~::urrently only a select few fin~n~ l institutions have direct access to the world's major trading markets. The vast majority of companies and individuals have to deal through brokers who execute all trading orders.
Most investors are not ~iven direct access to Oll market exchanges because of their potential lack of credit worthiness with its direct potential adverse effect on other investors or because of its potential disastrous effect on the solvency or credit rating of the clearing house. Other creditworthy investors are denied entry to on market exchanges and some over the counter markets by restrictive trade practices designed for the benefit of existing members.
l~tany companies, banks, government treasuries, central bal~ks, government authorities, institutions, professional fund managers and individuals worldwide would like direct entry to major world markets and would like to be able to have direct control of order execution from their office or home and also be able to limit their potential losses. Existing major tradillg markets and fin~n~ l instruments do not fulfil this need.
Disclosure of the Invention The invention, as currently envisaged, provides in a first aspect a contract exchange comprising:
a central clearing house computer;
a cash depositing facility, such as computer based cash managelllellt fund, elechonically linked to the cenhal clearing house computer; and '- an automated real time screen trading system operated by investors using personal computers linked by telephone lines to the central clearing house computer.
The contract exchange creates, trades and closes indivisihle financial packags contracts each of which have two parties, a buyer and a seller, who are the beneficial owners of the proceeds of a billdhlg obligation requiring a cash settlement based on a settlement price of a specific quantity of a specified type of product at an agreed price, place and time.
The price of the contracts is determined by a market.
The contracts are geared and investors must make sufficiellt funds available to a trading account from a depositing facility account to cover the proportion of the value of a colltract, as determined by the gearing ratio, before all investor is permitted to buy or sell. As the price moves in the market, the parties to contracts gain or lose the entire changed value of the 0 contracts they hold. Either the buyer or the seller makes an incremelltal profit after each price movement and the counter party makes aIl incremelltal loss. The credit is immediately transferred fiom the trading accowlt of the party m~king the loss to the party m~king the profit.
The clearing house holds options on all the contracts and is able to exercise its OptiOll rights to dispose of some or all of a party's contracts in the market if that party's trading, or assigned funds became insufficieIlt to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as determined by the gearillg ratio. Should the clearing house be unable to dispose of the contracts required in the market then when the contract price moves such that the party's funds fall to zero, it is able to close all that party's contracts at that price, simultaneously closing all the contracts held by the counter parties. Closing takes place without delay and without the involvement of any other parties.
When the clearing house is exercising its option rights and attempting to dispose of a party's contracts in the market and a counter party enters the opposite parameter of the market, then the clearin,g house may close all the party and counter party contracts that are in the market at the same time.
If a party has sufficient funds to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as determined by the gealing ratio, at the last sale price but not at the price of one of the market parameters, and a counter party enters the market at that parameter to close a pOSitiOll, the clearing house may close sufficient of the party's contracts with the counter party's contracts so that the party no longer has insufficient funds to cover the proportioll of the val~le of the contracts held at the price of that market parameter.

W ~ 97/30407 PCT/AU97/00087 Ill order to create a new indivisible financial package conh~act the clearing house must enter into a purchase contract with the buyer of the conhract, and enter into a sale contract with the seller of that contract at thesame price.
The colltract exchange may provide direct ently to the market, and the opport~mity to hade 24 hours a day, to potential investors from every office and home iIl the world. Trading need llever cease Oll the Contract Exchallge eveu with an exterllal world catastrophe.
The investor must have cleared funds in a deposit facility (cash management trust) account electronically linked with the clearing house before he can commellce trading. An investor need not be evaluated for credit wortlliness by the clearing house or other investors as it is irrelevant to the system. The potential losses of investors are reshicted to a pre-determined maximum level; that is the amount assigned to trading.
The Contract Exchange has less theoretical chance of defaulting, illVOiCillg back contracts, repricing contracts, or avoiding contracts than the wolld's existing major stock exchanges, option exchanges, futures exchan~es or other exchanges.
An investor may reinvest unrealised surplus assigned funds (perhaps derived from unrealised profits) from his trading account into further contracts, or transfer unrealised surplus assigned funds via his cash management trust account back to himself. Reillvestment may be conducted automatically by the clearing house if desired.
All investor may have part of or all of his position closed out by the exercise of the clearing house held option if he does not maintain the millimum required assigned funds for the pOSitiOll. If the clearing house exercises its ophion with both the party and counter party without the counter party giving a trading order the counter party will never be limited by this exercise of the clearing house held OptiOll to less than a 100% gain on the millimum required assigned funds for his pOSitiOll from a particular point of time.
The llulllber of head products covered by the conhacts could eventually be greater thall any other individual financial market as the number of pol.ential users of the market is broader because of its open access policy and attributes mentioned above. Thus, small individual segments of any world market could be covered.

The contracts also provide a hedging tool to diversify risk with unique hedgillg advantages.
In another aspect the invel1tioll provides a protocol for trading Oll a contract exchallge, comprising the steps of:
providing a central clearing house computer;
providing a cash depositing facility such as computer based cash managen1el1t fund electronically linked to the central clearing house computer;
providing an autolllated real time screen trading system operated by illvestors using personal computers linked by telephone lines to the central clearing house computer;
creating, hading and closing indivisible financial package contracts each of which have two parties, a buyer and a seller, who are the beneficial owners of the proceeds of a binding obligation requiring a cash settlement based Oll a settlen1ent price of a specific qual1tity of a specified type of product at an agreed price, place and time;
determinillg the price of the contracts by operation of a market;
gearing the contracts and monitoring the funds each investor hz~
available to ellsure each investor has sufficient funds available in a hadln~
account to cover the proportion of the value of a contract, as determined ~y the gearing ratio, before an investor is permitted to buy or sell;
exercish1g option rights to dispose of some or all of a party's contracts in the lllarket if that party's funds become il1sufficiellt to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as deterrnined by the gearing Z5 ratio;
if unable to dispose of the contracts required in the market then, when the contract price moves such that the party's funds fall to zero, closing all that party's contracts at that price, and simultaneously closhlg allthe contracts held by the counter parties. Closing takes place without delay and without the involvement of any other parties.
When exercising OptiOll rights and attempting to dispose of a partys contracts in the market and a counter party enters the opposite parameter of the market, closing all the party ancl counter party contracts that are in the market at the san1e time.
If a party has sufficient funds to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as detern1ined by the gearing ratio, at the last sale price but not at the price of one of the market parameters, and a counter party enters the market at that parameter to close a position, option lights will be '' exercised to close sufficient of the party's contracts with the coullter party's contracts so that the party l10 longer has insufficient fullds to cover the proportion of tlle value of the contracts held at the price of that market parameter.
As the price moves in the market, requirillg the parties to contracts to gain or lose the entire change in value of the contracts they hold so that either the buyer or the seller makes an incremental profit after each price movement and the counter party l~akes all il1cremental loss, and immediately transferring the credit from the trading account o$ the party m~kin~ the loss to the party tn~king the profit.
In a further aspect the invelltion provides a unique indivisible fin~n~ l package contract which is a binding obligation requirillg a m~n~lRtory cash settlelllent based on a settlement price of a specific quantity of a specified type of product at an agreed price, place and time. Each contract has two parties, a buyer and a seller, who are the beneficial owners of the proceeds of the binding obligation.
Whell holding contracts, the price moves as determined by market 2û forces.
The contracts are geared and investors must make sufficient funds available to a trading account from the depositing facility account to cover the proportion of the value of a contract, as determined by the gearing ratio, before an investor is permitted to buy or sell. As the price moves in the market, the parties to contracts gain or lose the entire change of value of the contracts they hold. Either the buyer or the seller makes an incremental profit after each price movement and the counter party makes an increlllelltal loss. The credit is immediately transferred from the trading accoullt of lhe party m~king the loss to the party n-Rking the profit.
The clearing house holds options Ol1 all the contracts and is able to exercise its OptiOl1 rights to dispose of some or all of a party's contracts in the market if that party's funds became insufficient to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as determined by the gearing ratio. Should the clearing house be unable to dispose of the contracts required in the market Lhen whel1 the contract price moves such that the party's funds fall to zero, it is able to close all that party's contracts at that price, simultaneously closing all the contracts held by the counter parties. Closing takes place wil~lo~lt delay and without the h1volvemellt of any other parties.
When the clearing house is exercising its OptiOI1 rights and attempting to dispose of a party's contracts in the market and a cowlter party 5 enters the opposite parameter of the market, thell the clearing house may close all the party and counter party contracts that are in the market at that tilne.
If a party has sufficient f mds to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as determined by the gearhlg ratio, at the last sale price 10 but not at the price of one of the market parameters, and a counter party enters the market at that parameter to cIose a pOSitiOl1, the clearing house may close sufficient of the party's contracts with the counter party's contracts so that the party no longer has insufficient funds to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held at the price of that market 15 parameter.
In order to create a new indivisible financial package conh~act the clearh1g house must enter into a purchase contract with the buyer of the contract, and enter into a sale contract with the seller of that contract at thesame price.
20 Best l!vfode of the Invention Trading Format General Tradin~ Procedures A Contract Exchange cash management trust is electronically attached to the clearing house. Before an investor can trade he must have 25 suitable software, hard ware and communications line and he must have completed an application forn1 in relation to opening a cash management hust account and entered into an agreement-contract ~Trading Agreement and Risk Disclosure Statement) with the Contract Exchange that binds the investor to the ~ontract Exchange Rules. The completed application form 30 and agreement-contract must be lodged with an agent bank. At the same time the investor must deposit fullds with the agent bank and the funds must be cleared prior to their transfer to his cash management trust account.
For security reasons an investor can only trade in the same name as the name of his cash managen1ent trust account. Similarly cheques will only be 35 paid from his cash management trust account to a drawee or funds transferred, in the san1e narIle as the cash managemel1t trust account name.

-W ~ 97130407 PCT/AU97/00087 Investols will earn a commercial rate of interest on the funds in their cash managell1ellt trust accouIlt and a commercial rate of interest OIlfUIldSill their clearing house assigned funds account. All clearing house funds will be deposited ill an accoul1t with the cash management trust.
~ 5 Funds will be swept out of the h1vestor's cash managell1ent trust account to his assigned funds account with the clearing house when the investor gives his initial trading order. Further funds may also be swept out of the investor's cash mal1agemel1t trust account at a later date at the investor's reguest. The investor has the right to designate or assigll the levelof fullds he wishes to put at risk in trading. It may only be a sn1all portion of his cash managen1ent trust account balance. Only funds available in the illvestor's cash managel~lent account can be assigned to trading, to form part of all investor's total assigned funds. The clearing house has no recourse to the investor for anything other than the funds in the investor's assigned funds accounts. The clearing house will auton1atically only accept a trading order from an investor if he has the required funds necessary to be assigned to hadillg available in his cash management trust account or in his accounts with the clearing house if he has surplus assigned funds in those accounts.
The clearing house will terminate an accepted trading order if at any time prior to the trading order being executed the investor has insufficient assigned funds to cover the given trading order. The minimllm required assigned funds to cover the pOSitiOIl to be opened will be needed if no surplus funds are also assigned. If surplus funds are assigned to the pOSitiO
the clearing house will terlllinate an accepted trading order if those surplus assigned funds cease to be available.
Funds will automatically be swept from the investor's clearing house assigned funds accoul1t to (and remain deposited in) the investor's cash managell1ent trust account at the time a contract class position is closed out or on the terl11ination date of the contract unless the investor has given a contraly mandate or instruction to the clearing house.
A gearing system applies with the contract. In the books of accounts of the Contract Exchange clearing house all investors' assi~ned funds accoullts are debited and credited auton1atically with evely price movement of their contracts during the day, every day. The col1tract clearing house automatically monitors all pOSitiOllS with every price fluctuation. This is a simple l:ask as the clearing house can calculate pOSitiOllS prior to price n1oveIl1el1ts if necessary and can collate shl1ilar pOSitiOl1S together. The clearing house acts in an automated way as set down in the Contract Exchange Rules. The clearing house may act as an authorised agent without discretion for investors in market activities. To assist h1 facilitating these activities a minimum bid (tick) market is always provided. If the market moves against an investor giving the investor insufficient assigned funds to cover his contracts to conform with the acceptable ~earing ratio, the clearing house autolnatically attempts to exercise its option and acts as agent on the investor's contracts and places a trading order at the last traded price ie. at the market offer (ask) price if selling and at the market bid price if buying and attempts to novate contract holders or close out sufficient contracts so that the investor's assigned funds are sufficient for the reduced number of contracts that the Rules allow him to hold given the investor's level of assigned funds after accounting for realised and unrealised losses and gains.
Similarly the clearing house may be acting as agent and be automatically increasing the number of contracts of other investors if those investors have selected the trading method that directs the clearing house to automatically reinvest specified unrealised surplus assiglled funds into further contracts to increase those investors' exposure.
Each contract type will have a set minimum bid (tick) suitable and realistic to that conhract type. This will be partly determined by the recent trading history and depth of existil1g markets.
Trading orders are collated and quantities are showl1 on the screen at each quoted buy and sell price near the market excluding bids higher than the market offer price and offers lower than the market bid price. Trading orders are queued according to price and hme with the clearing house taking its position as agent in the queue as appropriate. However clearing house crossings such as an Exempt Market Crossing or an Exempt Closing Crossing that close out both a conh~act and a contra position contract are exempt from n1arket participation and queuing, as is Q clearh1g house crossing such as an Exempt Openillg Crossil1g that opens both a contract and a contra pOSitiOl1 contracl. No other crossings are exempt from market participation. In most situations at each price the clearing house will probably be in the queue to b~y or sell contracts. However, at times the clealing house may have no tradin~g orders to execute.

The clearing house does not necessarily have an active market function as an agent at every price change. However, if the minimum bid market does not include a bid or offer price that gives the clearillg house a neutral position as an agent (a pOSitiOll whereby it needs to do nothing other than execute Exempt Market Crossings) thel1 the clearing house automatically gives a trading order and jOillS the queue in the sall1e way as other investors if any contract is not backed or supported by the minimum required assigned funds or if an investor has selected a trading lllethod that directs the clearing house to act as agent to illcrease the investor's number ofcontraGts. The clearing house as an agent gives trading orders at the market offer price if selling and the market bid price if buying except with Exempt Openil~g Crossings. This may mean in a rapidly moving mar~et that the clearing house, in it's agent activities, is unable to novate contract holders or close Ollt contracts ill the market. The clearing house in it's agel1t activities will give priority in its trading orders to contracts that have a deficiency of assigned funds. The clearing house computer will proportionally then randomly allocate sales within each category of hading order from its agent activities if it cannot fulfil all orders at a preferred price.
If the clearing house as an agent is attempting to dispose of contracts in the market or if an investor has a deficiency in his minimum required assigned funds at one of the market parameters in a contract class (conhact type, rmonth and trading position) and any of the contra position contracts appear on n1arket 011 one of the malket parameters where an investor has a deficiency then the clearing house closes out sufficient of those contracts in an ExelIlpt Market Crossing so that the investor has no deficiency in his minilllul11 required assigned funds at the price of the Exempt Market ~rossing. The investor thus then has the minimum required assigned funds for the number of contracts he holds at the price of the E~cempt ~Iarket Crossing.
The clearing house would execute the Exempt Market Crossing at the n1arket price offered or market price bid by the contra position contract holder. When selecting the specific contracts out of a contract holder's batch of contracts for disposal, the clearing house will in each circumstal1ce randomly select either a LIFO or FIFO lllethod of stock control unless contra position contracts to others in the batch appear 011 market. In this circumstauce, the clearing house will dispose of the contracts that can be applied in an Exempt Market Crossing.
If an investor directly closes out all or part of his pOSitiOl1 in the lllarket the clearing house automatically adjusts, if need be, the llumber of 5 contracts that it is attempting to dispose of in the market on that investor'sbehalf. Silllilarly, if the investor has given and had accepted a direct tradingorder to close out a position that trading order is a~ltomatically ad~usted (if necessary) in regards to quantity after acceptance, if in the intervening time the clearing house disposes of contracts on behalf of that investor prior to 10 the investor's direct trading order being executed.
The more the market moves against an investor with an insufficiellt assigned fullds position for a contract class the more of the investor's contracts the clearing house must attempt to dispose of hl the market. In a normal market the clearing house will be able to novate contract holders or 5 close out conh~acts in the market, or both, so tllat an illvestor has sufficient assigned funds to cover the remRini--g number of contracts held. ~Iowever, traulllatic or surprise events do at times cause a market to gap or rapidly move in one direction. For example, assume the colltracts are geared 25:1 and the market suddenly gaps 10% on negligible turnover and the clearing 20 house cannot novate the contract holder nor close out the contracts it wishesto in the market nor does the opportunity arise for it to perform any Exempt ~larket Crossings. An investor Oll the wrong side of the market may have illsufficient assigned funds to cover the gapping movemellt. At 25:1 gearing the investor may have only provided 4% (1/25 x 100~) of the contract value.
25 The clearing house automatically follows the Contract Exchange Rules and closes out the investor's contract in an Exempt ~:losing Crossing at a price equal to the price that his assigned funds in that contract class are ffrst exhausted (zero~ once that price is between the market parameters or at the market offer parameter if the investor has a lollg position or at the marl~et bid 30 parameter if the investor has a short pOSitiOll. That investor has no ~urther liability.
With every transaction that a contract is opelled rather than novatio occurrillg, the clearillg house simultaneously enters illtO a long contract and a short colltract. If all investor's contract is closed out (as the clearing house 35 has beell consistelltly unsuccessful in its market activities, perhaps due to a gapping mQrket) in a clearing house executed Exempt Closing Crossing with , -W ~ 97/30407 PCT/AU97/00087 other investors being excluded from participation, the investor with the contra position contract also has his contract simultaneously and automatically closed out by the exercise of the clearing house held OptiOll (as stated ill the Contract Exchange Rules) evell without his presence in the lllarket. The investor Oll the right side of the market has made a 100% gain Oll his lllillilllUlll required assigned funds invested hl the contract from thelater of the time that the contract pOSitiOl1 was established or the last point of time that the contra position contract to his contract was backed or supported by the minimum required assigned funds prior to the Exempt Closing Crossing.
The contract can only be transferred through the Contract Exchange.
All settlemellts Oll the E~cchange are in cash with llO physical delivery.
Mandatoly cash settlement of a contract occurs automatically at the termination time Oll tlle termination day of the contract at the cash settlemellt price, as all contracts with the same termination time (and date) that are open at that time are then closed out at that time.
The Tradin~ Order Au investor must use Identification and Passwords to log on to the trading system in a similar way to other screen trading systems. To gain entry to the market, execute a trading order or have a trading order appear on the screen an iuvestor must give a trading order mRking up to ~line s.a.emell s.
(1) the contract type (2) the contract n1onth 25 (3) the trading pOsitiOll: buyer or seller (4) the direction to open or expand a pOSitiOll, to close or reduce a pOSitiOll, to terminate a prior trading order, to adjust a prior trading order. Ollly the investor's last prior trading order can be terminated or adj~lsted ill a contract class.
30 (5) the quantity of contracts (1~) t}le price of the contracts either "llOW" - at the earliest opportunity, or a price limit per contract. The price limit sub-statement and the I'llOWII sub-statement can both be made separately or the sub-state~neIlts can be made collcurrently with "now" activated first if llOt, or until blocked by the price limit.

CA 02247ll9 l998-08-l8 (7) the preferred tradillg method either accept accumulatioll of surplus assigned funds, or build up colltract numbers (8) the mandate for the clearing house as agent at the termination date of the contract to reillvest in the next contract month on a similar basis to the degree that assigned funds allow, or tlle standard cash settlemellt at the termination date.
(9) the nature of the limit on the transfer of funds to be assigned to trading for the contrf3ct class. For instance:
excluded conh~act class assigned funds accounts or cash 0 mallagement trust accoullts;
assigned funds limit;
assigned funds limit equivalent to all the investor's funds in his casl management trust account and any surpluses in other contract assigned funds accounts; or solely illcluded contract class assigned funds accounts or cash management account.
In relation to the transfer of funds the second or the third sub-statelllents above must be provided if the statement is to be made. The sequence and priorities of sub-statements may be relevant.
The nine statements must be made when initially opening a pOSitiOll in a contract class although only the first six statements may need to be made when adding to a position. The first six statements only must be made when closing a posltion. The first four statements only must be made when terminating a trading order. At least the first four statements plus other(s) 25 must be made when adjusting a trading order.
Directions to OpelllClose/Terminate/Adjust If an investor has both long and short positions open in a conhact type he must provide the nor~nal minimum required assigned funds for each long position and each short position. Therefore it is important to state that 30 a pOSitiOll is being closed out if that is the intelltioll. If an investor wishes to termillate or cancel a trading order he can do so at any time prior to its execution. Tradin~s orders remaill active until terminated. Similarly an investor can adjust or amend a trading order (but not alter information in the first three statements) although the timing of his trading order may be 35 changecl for queuillg purposes. If any information in the first three statements needs altering, the trading order should be terminated and a replacement trading order given.
Price All investor who gives a trading order with a "now" and a bid price 5 above the market offer price or a "now" with an offer price below the market bid price can only move the market (if the trading order is not executed) by market ticks to his price lirnit although the timing of his offer or bid is recorded at his price limit for queuing purposes. The Market Maker contributes to the successful operation of the system as he always provides a 10 mini-n~ bid market and thus helps prevent crazy price errors suddenly appearing on the screen and also helps prevent buy-sell trading order reversal errors outside the market parameters. Bids higher than the ~narket offer price (ie. a bid not including a "now") and offers lower than the market bid price ~ie. an offer not including a "I10W'I) would be confirmed back to the 15 investor prior to being accepted. This is to encourage investors only to use a price limit sub-statement by itself when the investor's bid price is not greaterthan the market offer price or the investor's offer price is not less than the market bid price. An accepted trading order with a bid higher than the market offer price or an accepted hading order with an offer lower than the 20 lllarket bid price will be executed in the same way as a trading order with a "llOW" and a price limit.
A further safety limit will be placed Oll all trading orders. A trading order will be terminated by the clearing house unless adjusted by the investor (for confirmation purposes) if and when the tradillg order (and 25 perhaps other trading orders) moves the market more than the equivalent of the gearing ratio (ie. if the gearing ratio is 10:1, 10% of the market price).
This r-lle will place a limit on investor trading order errors that may be particularly relevant in a thillly haded contract type if no arbitrager is presen~ in or attracted to the market.
30 Tradin~ Methods An investor can only use one trading method at a time in each contracS class and a trading method calmot be altered while a position is open. All investors are offered two alternative trading methods with the clearillg house acting in the market as agent on behalf of the investor when 35 requircd to do so. In broad terms either the investor accumulates ally gained assigned fullds or the investor invests any gained assigned funds i}1to further contracts.
If accumulating funds, the minimum required assigned funds are automatically topped up when Ileeded froln surplus assigned funds when 5 they are available. If no surplus assigned funds are available the clearing house is to dispose of the contracts if necessary so that the adjusted nwnber of contracts are covered by the minimum required assigned funds.
If investillg, the minimum required assigned funds are automatically topped up when l1eeded from surplus assiglled funds when they are 10 available. If no surplus assigned funds are available the clearing house is to dispose of the contracts if necessary so that the adjusted number o~ contracts are covered by the minimum required assiglled funds. The clearing house is to reinvest all surplus assigned funds over the initial level of the surplus assi~ned funds accoul1t into contracts of the same contract class. If surplus 15 assigned funds are applied to, or used to top up the minimum required assigned funds they are accumulated again (subject to favourable price movements) to their previous maximum level (plus fractions).
Malldate to Reinvest the Cash Settlement This facility allows an investor to make a long term investll1ent if he 20 wishes simply by giving an initial trading order with appropriate assigned funds. ~ position can automatically be rolled-on (rolled over) at the termination date of each contract. This involves the investor giving the clearing house a mandate to act as agent to reinvest the investor's n1andatory cash settlemellt funds into contracts in the next later-dated conhact month 25 Ol1 a similar basis to the extent that the investor's m~n~l~tory cash settlement funds allow. The mandate given by an investor n1ust be consistent within a contract class while a position is open. If the investor is using a trading metllod that accumulates surplus assigned funds the clearing house will attempt to re-establish a position with the same number of contracts 30 ~reviously held by the investor. If the investor is using a trading method that increases the nulllber of contracts when the appropriate assigned funds are available then the clearing house will attempt to re-establish a pOSitiOll with as many contracts as possible with the available fuuds. Whell given such a mandate by an investor the clearing house will cross in Exempt 35 OpeniIlg Crossings as many contracts as possible at the later-dated conh~act last market price at the terminatioll time of the terminated contract. The balance of the contracts will ~mmediately be bought or sold in the market by a clearing house "now" trading order at the lowest offer market price(s) if buying and the highest bid market price(s) if selling. The number of contracts the clearing house intends to buy or sell in this fashlon will be 5 showll Oll the screen one hour prior to the termination time to encourage as any arbitragers and traders into the market as possible so that the clearing house can obtain the best possible pl;ice for the investors for whom it is acting. The clearing house computer will proportionally then randolllly allocate the filvestors' contracts that had been successfully traded in the 10 Exempt Opening Crossing and proportionally then randomly allocate the rem~ ing contracts haded in the market outside the Exempt Opening Crossing. A clearing fee will be applicable on all contracts bought and sold.
Interllal Transfer of Funds An investor may have a number of positions open at one time. The 15 hlterllal funds transfer system is structured to provide the investor with a great deal of flexibility. Upon receiving a trading order the minimum required assigned funds (plus surplus assigned funds if so directed by the investor) are automatically transferred, if required, to the investolJs appropriate contract class assigned funds account with the clearing house.
20 All assigned funds accounts are part of the books of accounts of the clearinghouse. If the investor already has sufficient surplus assigned funds in the appropriate conhact class assigned funds account no funds are necessarily required from his cash managemellt trust account or frolll other assigned funds accounts ~with surpluses). Only an investor's surplus assigned funds 25 (including unrealised assigned funds but excluding the minimllm required assigned funds for an incompleted order) can be swept to his cash management trust account at any time. The investor as a statement in his trading order can include a global limit on the sweep authorised from his cash mana~semellt trust account or any of his other contract class assigned 30 funds accounts to his specified contract class assigned funds account. In such circumstances priority will be given to sweeping funds from the investor's cash management trust account prior to his other assigned funds accounts unless the investor has given a contrary instructioll in his trading order. ~f in the trading order or in subsequent directions the investor 35 specifies the contlact class assigned funds accounts available for sweeping thell those accounts will be swept when and if required ill the order of CA 02247ll9 l998-08-l8 W O g7/30407 P~T/AU97/00087 priority stated in the trading order or in subsequent directions assuming sulplus assigned funds are available in those accounts. ~n investor can specifically exclude contract class accounts or the cash management trust account from sweeping. If an investor does not restrict the funds to be 5 assigned to a contract class assigned funds account then his whole cash managel11ellt trust account balance is transferred to that assigned funds account and surpluses from other assigned funds accounts are automatically swept to tl1at assigned funds account if required. The investor can at any time add to the assi~ned funds of a specified contract class assigned funds 0 account. This can illvolve either a sweep from the investor's cash ulanagemellt trust account or a sweep when required from one or more of the illvestor's otller contract class assigned funds accounts to the specifiecl colltract class assigned funds account.
For overall consistency and to facilitate simpler funds calculatious 15 for investors, all contracts will be quoted Oll a price basis including contracts that llave an underlyillg product of a debt security or a debt security option.
Market Maker The clearing house will appoint a Market Maker for each contract type. The Market Maker will be offered fee-free trading on market making 20 activities and a discount on other contracts traded in that contract type, orpaid a fee for his services. The clearing house may also provide the Market Maker with categorised market information on the selected hading methods and levels of assigned funds for the relevant contract class. The Market Maker's role will be to automatically make a market for ol1e or two contracts 25 ~ie. a programmed computer Market Maker with an ~mderlying clearing house a~ oved minilllulll contract market mP~kin~s program) so that there is never more thal1 a mil1imum bid between the quoted buy and sell prices with the market always being a n1illimul1l bid market at the last sale price.
Prices will thus only change at a minimum bid at a time. In practice there 3~ will be a minimum of say one or two seconds between eacll change of the market parall1eters but there need not be a tillle period between sales at the san1e market parameters. The last buyer of a contract has the right to become the first seller in the queue (ie. jun1p the queue) of a contract at a tick lower price. Similarly the last seller of a contract has the right to 35 become the first buyer in the queue of a contract at a tick higher price. This will help facilitate a minimum bid market and reduce tlle costs of the Market CA 02247ll9 l998-08-l8 W ~ 97/30407 PCTIAU97/00087 Maker in a gappiJlg market The Market Maker will always top up his nillimum required assigl1ed funds if lleeded in his one contract market mRkillg activities. In a gapping market the Market Maker may be trading with himself. If for extreme example a market gaps 10% and the Market 5 Maker is trading witll himself in the most conservative way possible then the most tl1e Market Maker can loose is 10% of the val~le of one contract. Mos~
contract types will have a moderate value (eg. a gold contract will be one ounce). This will also reduce the costs of the Market Maker and the need for hls services.
~0 Odd Lot Facilitator An odd lot facility will be provided to increase the average size of each trade for large investors, execute many small trading orders instantly, reduce the electronic equivalent of paper work and encourage all investors regardless of size. Each colltract type will have a desigllated marketable parcel. For example a marketable parcel in gold may be 100 contracts (100 ounces). A marketable parcel may be 10,000 colltracts if the underlying product is a low priced product such as a low priced equity or a low priced OptiOll. An investor can open and close and buy and sell contracts in odd lot llumbers in quantities as small as one contract although the m~ mum 20 clearing fee charged is the fee for a marketable parcel.
However, to directly execute a trading order smaller than a marketeble parcel an investor can only deal at the market offer price if he is buying and the malket bid price if he is selling. A trading order smaller than a marketable parcel with contrary price instruction will be rejected but an 25 investor with an odd lot is not forced to deal at a price that is not one of the market parameters at the time the tradillg order was received. Odd lots smaller than a marketable parcel other than odd lots being dealt with by the clearillg house in it's agent market activities must be bought from and/or sold to the Odd Lot Facilitator or the Market Maker. The Odd Lot Facilitator who 30 is not subject to queuil1g rules or standard clearing fees with odd lots must bid for odd lots at the market bid price for one less contract than a marketable parcel if a marketable parcel is being bid for in the market and must offer for odd lots at the market offer price for olle less contract than a marketable parcel if a marketable parcel is being offered in the market ~ie.
35 the Odd Lot Facilitator will not be disadvantaged in a gapping market). The Odd Lot Facilitator must use a clearing ho~lse approved minimum odd lot computerised dealing program. The Odd Lot Facilitator pOSitiOll is not necessary for the success of the system but it conhibutes a little. Also, if it is in place it may be useful if the market systern ever appeared to be over loading.
Terms of a Long and Short Contract The contract is a synthetic finRnr~ l insh~umellt originated by the clearillg house of the Contract Exchange.
When the contracts are traded, contract holders may be novated.
The process of novation of a contract holder involves one party to a contract being substituted for another party and taking over the former party's contractual responsibilities. However, if a new contract is written, opened or established the pOSitiOll is as follows: The buyer of a contract enters into a separate contlact with the clearing house. The seller of a contract enters into another separate contract with the clearing house. The clearing house does not enter into a contract with a buyer of a contract if the clearing house is unable to contract with a seller at the same price. Similarly the clearing house does not enter into a contract with a seller of a contract if the clearinghouse is unable to contract with a buyer at the same price. The clearing house is thus always perfectly hedged in all its "principal" positions and always remains that way. For Exchange accounting purposes, the clearing house is not in a principal position. A contract holder acknowledges in his initial agreement-contract lthe Trading AgreemeIlt and Risk Disclosure Statement that binds a potential contract holder to the Contract Exchange Rules) that all contract holders or future contract holders can be novated or closed out in a contract by the clearing house at any time within the Rules and at the absolute (automated) discretion of the clearing house. A contract holder also acknowledges in the Trading Agreement alld Risk Disclosure Statement that the clearing house enters into contra position contracts in relation to all contracts and that if the assigned funds covering a contra position conLract becomes zero at any price between the market parameters or Oll t~e appropriate market parameter, then the then current contract llolder's contract can be termhlated by the contract being closed out in an Exelllpt Closing Crossing even if that contract was obtained after a series of nova~iolls.
A conh~act holder can close out a contract position in the market at any time assumillg buyers and sellers can agree Oll price.

1~

A party to a colltract is the beneficial owner of the proceeds of a unique indivisible fiTl~n~ l package conhact. The contract is a binding obli~sation enforceable at law requiring a m~n-l~tory cash settlelnent based Oll a settlement price of a speci~ic quantity of a specifie(l type of product at a 5 agreed price, place and time. The clearing house holds an OptiOll on the contlact. The OptiOll is exercisable at any time under certain conditions.
The option is granted to and held by the clearing house in all cases and circumstances as irrevocable agent for the contract holder. In relation to a contract that the clearing house has novated the contract holder by 10 exercising its option, the option is re-granted to the clearing house upon l1ovation of the contract. The clearhlg house ceases to hold an OptiOIl Oll a colItract once the contract is closed out. All proceeds derived from agent activities of the clearillg house accrue to the relevant beneficial owner. The conditions or terms of the contract form part of the Contract Exchange Rules.
15 l~arket Price and &earhl~ Ratio Assumptions (1) S = the last n1arket price that the seller's contract was backed by the mil1imum required assigned funds.
(2) B = the last market price that the buyer's contract was backed by the minimulll required assigned funds.
20 (3) the contract type is geared for example at ~5:1. That is, 4~Yo of the contracl value at the market price is required as funds in the investors' appropriate contract class assigned funds account as the minimum required assigned funds.

(4) the buyer's contract alld the seller's col1tract are the contra pOSitiOl1 25 contracts to each other.

(5) historical data is constantly updated.
Lon~ Contract The buyer and holder of a contract has a contract requiring mf~ toly cash settlement based Ol1 the settlement price of a specific 30 quallti'y of specified type of purchased product at al1 agreed price, place and time. The clearing house holds a call option on the contract. The call OptiOll is exer~::isable at any time under certain conditions. The call option is granted to and held by the clearing house as irrevocable agent for the contract holder. The conditions or tern1s of the (one) call OptiOl1 held by the 35 clearing house as irrevocable agent are described below in parts (i) alld (ii).

W O 97/30407 PCTtAU97/00087 ~i) A "progress" call option on the contract with a strike price of S + Sl25.
If the contra pOSitiOl1 contract holder's (seller's) assigned funds in the contract falls to zero at a price between the market parameters or at the market bid parameter, then the clearing house performs an Exempt Closing Crossing at that price. A contract holder (the buyer) with assigned funds (including unrealised assigned funds) equal to or greater than the minimum required assigned funds cannot prevent the clearing house exercising its "progress" call option. However, if the contra pOSitiOll contract assigned funds account always has soII1e assigned funds, then the clearing house will never need to exercise its "progress" call option in relation to the buyer's contract.
In practice the clearing house would only exercise its "progress"
call OptiOll Oll the contract by executing an Exempt Closing Crossing if the clearing house is generally unsuccessful in its market activities (perhaps due to a gapping market) iIl relation to the contra pOSitiOl1 contract ie. a seller must sell at the bid price the number of conhacts bid by the clearing house for the clearing house to be successful in all its agent buying market activities indirectly relevant to the buyer's conhact.
~ii) A "protection" call option on the contract with a strike price between <B and down to and including B - B/25.
In practice the clearing house would always attempt to exercise its "protection" call OptiOl1 by attempting to novate the contract holder or close out the contract by selling in the market at the first opportul1ity below B, at either the first market offer parameter opportul1ity below B takil1g into account the queuing rules by offeling the market offer parameter price or in an Exempt Market Crossillg with the contra position contract at a market bid price or a 3CI market o~fer price if such an opportunity arises. If there is no market opportunity in relation to the contract between <B and down to and il1cluding B - ~/25 (and a buyer must purchase at the offer price the null1ber of contracts offered by the clearing house for the clearing house to be successful in all its agent selling market activities relevant to the contract other than with an Exempt Market Crossing) the clearin~3 house would exercise its "protection" call option at B -B/25 by closing out the contract in an Exempt Closing ~rossing with other investors beillg excluded from participation. The clearing house only closes out the contract in an Exempt Closing Crossing if the contract holder's whole assigned fullds pOSitiOll in the contract - 5 class is zero between the market parameters or at the market offer paral11eter. If a contract holder has a parcel of contracLs the clearil1g house only sells sufficient contracts to bring the pOSitiOIltO within the acceptable gearing ratio at that sale price. A contract holder who has assigned funds (including unrealised assigned funds) equal to or "reater than the minimum required assiglled fullds at the market bid price prevents the exercise of the "protection" call OptiOll and does so as long as his assigned funds remain equal to Ol greater than the n1il1imum required assiglled funds.
Short Contract The seller and holder of a contract has a contract requiring mandatory cash settlemel1t based on the settlement price of a speciffc quantity of specified type of sold product at an agreed price, place and time.
The clearing house holds a put option on the contlact. The put option is exercisable at any time under certain conditions. The put OptiOll is granted 20 to and held by the clearing house as irrevocable agent for the contract holder. The conditions or terms of the (one) put OptiOl1 held by the clearing house as irrevocable agent are described below in parts (i) and (ii3.
(i) A "progress" put option Oll the contract at a strike price of B - B/25.
In practice the clearing house would only exercise its "progress"
put OptiOI1 on the contract by executing an Exempt Closing Grossing if the clearing house is generally unsuccessful in its market activities (perhaps due to a gapping market) in relation to the contra pOSitiOll contract ie. a buyer must buy at the offer price the number of contracts offered by the clearing house for the clearing house to be successful in all its agent selling malket activities indirectly relevant to the contract. If the contra position contract holder's assigned funds in the contract falls to zero at a price between the market parameters or at the market offer paran1eter, thell the clearing house performs an Exempt Closing Crossing at that price. A contract holder with assigned funds (including unrealised assigned funds) equal to or greater than the minimum required assigned funds cannot pravent the clearing house exercising its "progress" put OptiOll. However, if the contra pOsitiOll contract assiglled funds account always has some assigned funds thell the clearillg house will never need to exercise its "progress" put OptiOIl.
(ii) A "protectioll" put option on the contract at a strike price between >S aIld up to and including S + S/25.
II1 practice the clearing house would always attempt to exercise its "protection" put option by attempting to novate the contract holder or close out the contract by buying in the market at the first opportunity above S, at either the first market bid parameter opportunity above S taking into account the queuing rules by bidding the market bid parameter price or in an Exempt Market Crossing with the contra position contract at a market offer price or a market bid price if such an opportunity arises. If there is no market opportunity in relation to the contract between >S and up to and including S + S/25 (and a seller must sell at the bid price the umber of contracts bid by the clearing house for the clearing house to be successful in all its agent buying market activities other than with all Exempt Market Crossillg), the clearillg house would exercise its "protection" put OptiOll at S + S/Z~ by closing out the contract in an Exempt C~losing Crossing with other investors ~eing excluded rrom participation. The clearing house only closes out the colltract ill an Exempt Closing Crossing if the contract holder's whole assigned funds pOSitiOll in the conhact class is zero between the market parameters or at the market bid parameter. If a contract holder has a parcel of contracts the clearillg house only buys sufficient contracts to brillg the position to within the acceptable gearing ratio at that purchase price. A contract holder who has assigned funds (includiIlg unrealised assigned funds) equal to or greater thall the minimum required assigned funds at the lllarket offer price prevellts the exercise of the "protectioll" put option and does so as long as his assigned funds remain equal to or greater than tlle millimulll required assigned fullds.

W O 97/30407 PCTIAU97/0~087 The Clearin~ House "pro~ress" Option It is current practice for many fuud mallagers and illvestors to write OptiOllS on specific securities or on portfolios. These options are sometimes exercised alld sometimes IlOt exercised. The colltract clearillg house ollly 5 exercises its "progress" options whell it has been unable to dispose o~ the contrac~s that is regards as the contra pOSitiOll contracts in the market, due to insufficiel1t market demand for those contra pOSitiOl1 contracts and as a collsequence the contra pOSitiOll contract holder's assiglled fullds had falle lo zero.
The clearing house at its absolute (automated) discretion may within the Rules novate a contract holder at any time or switch or novate a contract at any time. The holders of a contract may have been novated hundreds of thlles in relation to that contract. Similarly the holders of a contra pOSitiOllcontract may have been novated hundreds of times in relation to that contra pOSitiOll contract.
Similarly in relation to a contract the contra position contract may have beell also novated or switched (ie. the contra position contract, not its holder) many times as the clearing house may close out a long contract at the same time it closes out an unrelated short contract alld thus matches the two re-n~inil-g open contracts. Of those two rem~inillg contracts, each one becomes the contra pOSitiOll contract to the other. If the clearing house is not able to dispose of any contra position contracts in the market or is only able to dispose of a portion of the contra position contracts it wishes to in the market including Exempt ~larket Crossings, it must close out the balance that had not beell successfully disposed of in the market in an Exempt Closing Crossing (with other investors excluded from participation) wheu the assiglled fullds position Oll those contra position contracts beco~nes zero.If at ally particular price the cleariug house can only fulfil part of its attempted novation or closing out of contracts by acting in the market on a 3CI number of different illvestors' contracts, thell the clearing house computer would proportionally then randomly select those contracts of the relevant cPntract holders that had been successfully traded in the market and those that had been closed out in Exempt Closing Crossings.
Ullderlvin~ Products Traded The contracts could be traded Oll all homogeneous products that have an existillg market such as commodities, currencies, any financial instrulllellts that can be priced in an accepted way (including bonds, bills etc.), any fi?~nr:i~l index, a range of equities and options traded by any OptiOll clearing house. The range of colltract types could be expanded to cover a wider selection of products as the level of demand is determined in 5 each area. The contracts could also be traded on any derivative even without an existing market.
Gearin~ Ratio of Each Contract Tvpe The gearing (leverage) ratio with a contract is the ratio between the value of tlle undellyillg product and the minimum required assigned funds.
10 Each contract type will have its OWIl set gearing ratio that applies to all buyers and sellers (but not the clearing house as it is perfectly hed~ed in its "prillcipal" pOSitiOllS). Tlle gearing ratio will be partly dependallt on the volatility of the price of the underlyiIlg product and partly depelldant (at least initially) Oll the depth of turnover of the underlying product. For 15 example, a gearing ratio of a contract type might be similar but a little greater than that applying to clealing members of futures exchanges for a comparable futures coutract type, 2:1 or 3:2 if the underlying product is an at-~he-lllolley option and 2:1 to 20:1 if the underlying product is a company share. The trading histoly of each underlying product and associated 20 products will be closely examined before determining the appropriate gearing ratio for each contract type. Gearing ratios will be set at a level so that the clearing ~ouse will rarely (say very approximately once or twice a year) have to perform any Exempt Closing Crossings in the contract type.
For example, e~c~minRtion of gold trading and gold futures trading in world 25 rnarkets may result in a gearing ratio of say 25:1. If the underlying productof the contract type is all option more fiequent Exempt Closing Crossings will be acceptable. Gearing ratios must be established by the time conhact tradillg commences in a contract month and camlot be altered prior to the termiIlatioll of trading in that contract montll.
30 Currencv Applicable for Tradin~
All trading will be done in the currency that the head product is usually traded, eg. US dollars for US Treasury Bonds, Bills and Notes, EUrOdOllal'S,lllOSt commodities, all currellcies, and US equities, Yen for Japanese government bonds, Euroyen and ~apanese equities, Australian 35 dollar for Australiall bank bills, Australian treasury bonds and Australian equities, Mark for Gerlllan government bonds and German equities, French francs for Notional bond and French equities, UK pound for Gilts, UIC
equities etc., etc. The cash management hust will have separate accoullts for each c-lrrellcy.
So an investor with a US dollar cash management account who gave 5 a buy or sell trading order in Japanese govermnent bond contracts would autornatically, if need be, have his clearing house Japanese government bond (Yen~ contract assigned funds account topped up (with the required level of Yen assigned funds for the position given his trading order) from his US
dollar cash management trust account or from his other contract class 10 assiglled fu~lds accounts if so specified in his trading order.
Nature of tlle Cash l!vlana~ement Trust A Manager (ie. a rnanagemellt company) would control the cash m~ ge~llent trust linked to the Contract Exchange. The Manager's role would include the investment of funds into liquid short dated government 15 and prime banlc debt securities. The Manager would receive a fee for actin~
as Manager. An indepelldent hustee company would act as Trustee and be respol~sible for safeguarding the interests of cash management trust investors (unit holders) and ensurillg the provisions of the trust deed are followed.
The head office of the Manager would be the same as the head office of the 2~ Contract Exchange.
When an investor (unit holder) opens his account the Mana8er would automatically (in theory) open up accounts in each currency that contract types are traded plus the currency that the investor made his initial deposit. The Manager thus operates a number of trusts denominated in 25 different currencies. The clearing house will keep all its funds held on behalf of investors with the cash ~nanagement trust. The clearing house in its books of accounts has an assigned funds account for the investor in each contract class in the currency that the contract type is traded. Accounts will have nil balances in them unless the investor's OWllinStlUCtiOnS cause 30 transfers.
Interest will accrue on daily balallces in the investor's cash mallagelllent trust accounts and be credited monthly. Interest will accrue on daily balances in the investor's assigned funds accounts with the clearillg house and be credited monthly to the investor's cash management trust 35 accounts. This includes interest on gained unrealised assigned fullds but not on lost unrealised assigned funds.

The investor's maximum potential loss of assigned funds from trading contracts is ec~ual to the amount in his assigned funds accounts (includil1g ullrealised assigned funds). Any funds in any currency above the mil1imulll required assigned funds needed to cover a conhact class in any of the investor's assigned funds accounts are automatically converted if available, whel1 and if rec~uired into the currency of the investor's conhact class that has a deficiency in the minimul11 required assigned funds.
~:onversions of currency will be automatic alld at the most competitive rate available to the ~anager. The bank (foreign exchange 10 dealer) that offered the narrowest market for each currency will receive the role of Curre1lcy Converter and will receive all the business. The Currency Converter will have a clearing house approved currency conversion program.
The Currellcy Converter's quotes could be varied by the Currency Converter at any time as long as tlle narrowness of the market provided is maintained.
15 Tlle Currency Converter's market will always be automatically available to enable installt sweeping or transfer of ful1ds between accounts denominated in different currencies. Funds are transferred from an investor's clearing house assigned funds account to his cash management trust account in the currency of the account that the funds are coming from. Investors could 20 make withdrawals from the trust in any currency and rheques or the transfer of funds will only be authorised in the same name as the account. Investors that do not wish to use the Currency Converter should deposit funds into their cash management trust account in the currency applicable to the contrac~ types that they wish to hade.
A bank in each major capital city in the world will act as agent for the cash mal1agemellt hust in both receivh1g funds, issuing and distributing che~ues and/or transferring funds to the appropriate bank accounts. The agent banlcs may receive a fee from the investor for transferriI1g cleared funds to a central inveshIlellt management location (probably in Londol1 or 30 New York) as well as possible foreign exchange business by convertillg iocal ~unds into other currencies. An application form must be completed by the investor and lod~ed with the agent bank wheu he deposits funds for transfer to his ascount at the cash management trust. The initial application form will also include an agreement-contract (Trading Agreement and Risk 35 Disclosure Statement) that binds the investor to the Contract Exchange Rules.

-Arbitra~e Between ~arkets Each contract type will probably have the same terminatioll date as ~ the termillation date or explry date of the dominatillg futures mar~et or OptiOllS market with the same underlying product. This will encollrage 5 extensive arbitrage with existing markets as prices will come together at these dates. If futures or options are not currently traded on the head product, monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly termination dates could be used.
Contlact Notes It is the investor's responsibility to print out his OWIl contract notes 10 and trading history directly from his own computer. However, contract notes and tradillg histoly and cash flow records could be obtained ~rom the clearing house after payment of a fee from the investor's cash mallagement trust account. There is no scrip involved in the system.
Lall~ua~e of the Tradin~ Screen The trading screen, brochures, User Guide, Rules, Trading Agreelllellt and Risk Disclosure Statement, cash mallagement trust application forllls and contract llotes etc. would be available in a number of languages illcluding English, Japanese, German, Frellch, Spanisll, Italian, Cantonese, Mandarin and Portuguese.
20 Clearin~ Fee Each contract type will have a clearing fee (fixed charge) for each contract traded iIl that contract type (including clearing house agellt activities) .

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SUBSTITUTE SHEET ~RULE 26) CA 02247ll9 l998-08-l8 EXalllple 13 AdvalltaRes of coutracts as a Hed~in~ Tool (~ll prices in US dollars.) A~l existing holder of $400,000 of physical gold wishes to colltinue to hold gold but would like to reduce his risk very substalltially. Assume the gold price is $400 per ounce and the gold contract price is $400 (the terlninatioll date is near) and the gearing ratio in the gold contract is 40:1.
The gold holder sells $400,000 of gold contracts (say 1000 contracts with minimum assiglled funds of $10 per contract) by outlaying $10,000 and choosillg the tradillg method that accumulates any surplus assigned fullds.
Assume the gold price and contract price track each other.
Case 1 The contract price falls to $300 by the termination date of the contract. The investor has made a profit of $100,000 on contracts and a loss of $100,000 Oll physical gold.
Case Z
The contract price rises to $500 at the termination date of the contract. The clearing house as agent would have progressively closed out the investor's contract pOSitiOll in the market so that his $10,000 in contlactsZ0 would be lost excluding fractions and $100,000 could be made Oll the physical gold held. The investor's total pOsitiOIl therefore has improved $90,000.
Case 3 The contract price gaps dowll 4% to $3~4 as soon as the contracts are sold. The contracts are closed out by the clearing house as agent at $390 in allExelllpt Closillg Crossillg giVillg the investor a profit of 100% on assignedfunds, ie. $10,000. ~ loss of $16,000 has been made on physical gold at the same time. The investor's total loss therefore has been restricted to $6,000.
Case 4 The contract price gaps up 4% to $416 as soon as the contracts are sold. 'I'he colltracts are closed O~lt by the clearing house as agent at $410 i an E~celllpt Closing ~rossing for a loss to the investor of $10,000. A gaill of $16,000 has been made on physical gold. The investor's total gain therefore is $6,000.

CA 02247ll9 l998-08-l8 Example 14 (All prices ill Australian dollars.) An investor sells his $1.8nl. Australian indexed share portfolio with the Australian ~Il Ordinaries I~ldex at 1800 as he believes the Aushaliall share market nlay fall and he invests n1ost of his money in other areas. However, he requires some protection in the short tern1 so lle buys Index colltracts (gearing at 30:1) at an equivalellt price level to the Australian All Ordillaries Index with the termination date near, USillg the trading method that accumulates any surplus assigned funds. The investor outlays $70,000 covering tlle size of his original portfolio (say 1,000 contracts with minimllm assigned funds of $60 per contract plus $10,000 of surplus assigned funds).
Assume the Australian All Ordinaries Index and the Index contract price track each other.
Case 1 The colltract price rises to Z000. The investor sells his colltracts for a pro~it of $200,000. The investor's total position is equivalellt to as if he still held his share portfolio.
Case 2 The contract price falls rapidly to 1460 and the clearing house as agent progressively sells out the investor's position in the market until he haslost his original assigned fullds (excluding fractions). The sale of the investor's portfolio has therefore more than compensated for his loss of $70,000 in contracts and has justified his decision to sell the physical portfolio.
Case 3 The contract price gaps upwards more than 3 1/3% (say 1890) as soon as tlle contracts are bought. The investor's conhacts are closed out by the clearing house as agent at 1860 in an Exempt Closing Crossing. The investor has made a profit of $60,000 from his investment in colltracts.
Case 4 The contract price gaps downwards 4~/o (say 17Z8) as soon as the contracts are bought. The col1tracts are closed out by the clearing house as agellt at 1730 in an Exelllpt Closing Crossillg. The investor has los~: $70,000 on his contracts but his decision to sell the physical portfolio has been justified.

W O 97/3~407 PCTtAU97/00087 Contracts with an Option as an Underlvhl~ Product A contract with an ullderlying product of an OptiOll would trade in the same way as any other conhact although even with a low gearing ratio the clearing house may be more likely to be per~orming Exempt Closing 5 Crossings because of the nature of optiolls. If the undellyillg product (OptiOll) is traded in a market, the terminatioll dates of the ContrQct would be the same as the expiry dates of the OptiOll in the main market that the OptiOIl is traded.
Contract holders with an underlying product of an equity option (or an equity) would receive an adjusted contract number if bonus, reconstruction 10 or rights issues occur. The mil-imum bid (tick) for contracts trading at vely low prices would be reduced Oll a set scale.
CommunicatioIls with the Clearin~ House Head Computer ~ lthough anyone fiom any country can theoretically deal using the system, it is important to keep down the smaller investor's international 15 telepholle costs and partly provide him with high speed dedicated lines.
Each investor may have a separate dedicated line (perhaps of diverse speeds) with IllOSt major corporations or institutiolls probably having high speed dedicated lines, to a central spot (concentrator computer) in the closest major city. Each major city in the economically developed countries (say 1,000,000 20 people) could have a concentrator computer that provides the market and transactioll illformatioll and receives dealing instructions from the local investors. Dealing instructions from each major capital city would be automatically directed via high speed dedicated lines to a lead computer in each COUlltly that would automatically forward the dealing instructions via Z5 higll speed dedicated lines to the clearing house head computer for executionin the CO-IIltly of its domicile. A number of cities in some countries may be directly linked to the clearing house head computer.
It could be considered but not be necessary if trading orders sent at the same Universal time from London, Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, 30 Sydney, Paris and Frankfurt to the clearing house head computer arrived on market at precisely the same time. This would provide a level playing field and may encourage more world wide participants in arbitrage.
Investor's Computer Equipment and Software ~ltllough existing computer equiplllent could be used by investors 35 many illvestors will prefer to ~e offered a complete package or part package of equipment ie. computer, printer, modem, screen, a specifically designed W ~ 97/30407 PCT/AU97/00087 keyboard, compulsory software, complementillg software and perhaps even specifically designed forms (such as contract notes) to be used by the printer.
Securitv of the Svstem l~ach investor will use Identificatioll and Passwords to log on and use 5 identifiable software. Some investors will also be "hard-wired" through a dedicated line. Data may be enclypted during transit. For specified accoullts an investor's positions can only be opened alld closed on one line using identifia~e software.
~ullds can only be transferred from a cash management trust account 10 to an oulside account in the same name al1d address as the account at the cash management trust.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variatiolls and/or modifications may be made to the invelltion as shown in the speci~ic embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the 15 invel1tioll as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims (13)

CLAIMS:

1. A contract exchange comprising:
a central clearing house computer;
a cash depositing facility, such as computer based cash management fund, electronically linked to the central clearing house computer; and an automated real time screen trading system operated by investors using personal computers linked by telephone lines to the central clearing house computer; wherein the contract exchange creates, trades and closes indivisible financial package contacts each of which have two parties, a buyer and a seller, who are the beneficial owners of the proceeds of a binding obligation requiring a cash settlement based on a settlement price of a specific quantity of a specified type of product at an agreed price, place and time;
the price of the contracts is determined by a market;
the contracts are geared and investors must make sufficient funds available to a trading account from a depositing facility account to cover the proportion of the value of a contract, as determined by the gearing ratio, being permitted to buy or sell;
as the price moves in the market, the parties to contracts gain or lose the entire changed value of the contracts they hold;
either the buyer or the seller makes an incremental profit after each price movement and the counter party makes an incremental loss;
the credit is immediately transferred from the trading account of the party making the loss to the party making the profit;
the clearing house holds options on all the contracts and is able to exercise its option rights to dispose of some or all of a party's contracts in the market if that party's trading, or assigned funds became insufficient to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as determined by the gearing ratio;
should the clearing house be unable to dispose of the contracts required in the market then when the contract price moves such that the party's funds fall to zero, it is able to close all that party's contracts at that price, simultaneously closing all the contracts held by the counter parties;
closing takes place without delay and without the involvement of any other parties.

2. A contract exchange according to claim 1, wherein when the clearing house is exercising its option rights and attempting to dispose of a party's contracts in the market and a counter party enters the opposite parameter of the market, then the clearing house may close all the party and counter party contracts that are in the market at the same time.

3. A contract exchange according to claim 1 or 2, wherein if a party has sufficient funds to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as determined by the gearing ratio, at the last sale price but not at the price of one of the market parameters, and a counter party enters the market at that parameter to close a position, the clearing house may close sufficient of the party's contracts with the counter party's contracts so that the party no longerhas insufficient funds to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held at the price of that market parameter.

4. A contract exchange according to any preceding claims, wherein to create a new indivisible financial package contract the clearing house enters into a purchase contract with the buyer of the contract, and enters into a sale contract with the seller of that contract at the same price.

5. A contract exchange according to any preceding claims, wherein the clearing house will automatically reinvest unrealised surplus assigned funds from an investor's trading account into further contracts.

6. A protocol for trading on a contract exchange, comprising the steps of.
providing a central clearing house computer;
providing a cash depositing facility such as computer based cash management fund electronically linked to the central clearing house computer;
providing an automated real time screen trading system operated by investors using personal computers linked by telephone lines to the central clearing house computer;
creating, trading and closing indivisible financial package contracts each of which have two parties, a buyer and a seller, who are the beneficial owners of the proceeds of a binding obligation requiring a cash settlement based on a settlement price of a specific quantity of a specified type of product at an agreed price, place and time;
determining the price of the contracts by operation of a market;

gearing the contracts and monitoring the funds each investor has available to ensure each investor has sufficient funds available in a trading account to cover the proportion of the value of a contract, as determined by the gearing ratio, before an investor is permitted to open contracts to buy or sell;
exercising option rights to dispose of some or all of a party's contracts in the market if that party's funds become insufficient to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as determined by the gearing ratio;
if unable to dispose of the contracts required in the market then, when the contract price moves such that the party's funds fall to zero, closing all that party's contracts at that price, and simultaneously closing all the contracts held by the counter parties;
closing takes place without delay and without the involvement of any other parties.

7. A protocol for trading on a contract exchange according to claim 6, comprising the further step of:
when exercising option rights and attempting to dispose of a party's contracts in the market and a counter party enters the opposite parameter of the market, closing all the party and counter party contracts that are in the market at the same time.

8. A protocol for trading on a contract exchange according to claim 6 or 7, comprising the further step of:
if a party has sufficient funds to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as determined by the gearing ratio, at the last sale price but not at the price of one of the market parameters, and a counter party enters the market at that parameter to close a position, exercising option rights to close sufficient of the party's contracts with the counter party's contracts so that the party no longer has insufficient funds to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held at the price of that market parameter.

9. A protocol for trading on a contract exchange according to claim 6, 7 or 8, comprising the further step of:
as the price moves in the market, requiring the parties to contracts to gain or lose the entire change in value of the contracts they hold so that either the buyer or the seller makes an incremental profit after each price movement and the counter party makes an incremental loss, and immediately transferring the credit from the trading account of the counter party making the loss to the party making the profit.

10. A unique indivisible financial package contract which is a binding obligation requiring a mandatory cash settlement based on a settlement price of a specific quantity of a specified type of product at an agreed price, place and time;
each contract has two parties, a buyer and a seller, who are the beneficial owners of the proceeds of the binding obligation;
when holding contracts, the price moves as determined by market forces;
the contracts are geared and investors must make sufficient funds available to a trading account from the depositing facility account to cover the proportion of the value of a contract, as determined by the gearing ratio, before an investor is permitted to open contracts to buy or sell;
as the price moves in the market, the parties to contracts gain or lose the entire change of value of the contracts they hold;
either the buyer or the seller makes an incremental profit after each price movement and the counter party makes an incremental loss;
the credit is immediately transferred to the trading account of the party making the profit from the trading account if the counter party is making the loss;
the clearing house holds options on all the contracts and is able to exercise its option rights to dispose of some or all of a party's contracts in the market if that party's funds became insufficient to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as determined by the gearing ratio;
should the clearing house be unable to dispose of the contracts required in the market then when the contract price moves such that the party's funds fall to zero, it is able to close all that party's contracts at that price, simultaneously closing all the contracts held by the counter parties;
closing takes place without delay and without the involvement of any other parties.

11. A unique indivisible financial package contract according to claim 10, wherein when the clearing house is exercising its option rights and attempting to dispose of a party's contracts in the market and a counter party enters the opposite parameter of the market, then the clearing house may close all the party and counter party contracts that are in the market at that time.

12. A unique indivisible financial package contract according to claim 10 or 11, wherein if a party has sufficient funds to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held, as determined by the gearing ratio, at the last sale price but not at the price of one of the market parameters, and a counter party enters the market at that parameter to close a position, the clearing house may close sufficient of the party's contracts with the counter party's contracts so that the party no longer has insufficient funds to cover the proportion of the value of the contracts held at the price of that market parameter.

13. A unique indivisible financial package contract according to claim 10, 11 or 12, wherein in order to create a new indivisible financial package contract the clearing house must enter into a purchase contract with the buyer of the contract, and enter into a sale contract with the seller of that contract at the same price.