Abstract: An automated marketplace is separated into tiers, with behavioral requirements for each tier. Tier eligibility is a “structural incentive” for market participants to exhibit desirable behavior and eschew undesirable behavior. Tiered eligibility also reflects the natural imbalance of liquidity in the market and the need to preserve the identity of a class of liquidity providers, which further leads to a structure that can preserve the integrity of person-to-person trading relationships even in an automated environment. Within each tier, participant behavior leads to a ranking for that participant. When specific events occur, these events are allocated based on participant ranking. Participant ranking is an “activity incentive” that influences the behavior of market participants. Certain events are defined as desirable or undesirable, and when performed by a market participant, lead to positive incentives or negative incentives, of structural and/or monetary type.

Abstract: A stock loan system receives a sell short order for a financial instrument such as a stock, and determines whether it can provide a locate for the sell short order. If so, then the stock loan system sends sell short order and the locate to a marketplace for execution. In some cases, the sell short order is required to have a stock loan, not merely a locate, to be eligible for execution, and the stock loan system provides the loan, then sends the sell short order with notice of the loan to a marketplace for execution. In some embodiments, an order execution marketplace receives a sell short order for a financial instrument, and, if it can provide a locate, the marketplace provides the locate and executes the sell short order. In some cases, the sell short order is required to have a stock loan, not merely a locate, to be eligible for execution, and the marketplace obtains a stock loan from a stock loan system then executes the sell short order.

Abstract: An automated marketplace is separated into tiers, with behavioral requirements for each tier. Tier eligibility is a “structural incentive” for market participants to exhibit desirable behavior and eschew undesirable behavior. Tiered eligibility also reflects the natural imbalance of liquidity in the market and the need to preserve the identity of a class of liquidity providers, which further leads to a structure that can preserve the integrity of person-to-person trading relationships even in an automated environment. Within each tier, participant behavior leads to a ranking for that participant. When specific events occur, these events are allocated based on participant ranking. Participant ranking is an “activity incentive” that influences the behavior of market participants. Certain events are defined as desirable or undesirable, and when performed by a market participant, lead to positive incentives or negative incentives, of structural and/or monetary type.

Abstract: A stock loan system enables a non-clearing member lender to lend to a non-clearing member borrower; each of the non-clearing members is associated with a respective clearing member. When a clearing member defaults, the stock loan system automatically tries to reassign the loan to a backup clearing member, or if no backup clearing member is available, the stock loan system automatically terminates the stock loan, thereby avoiding the loan being in a legal limbo due to the default of the clearing member.

Abstract: A computer program provides a screen-based interface enabling anonymous negotiation between a buyer and a seller. Parties wishing to trade enter values into fields of a screen-based interface, thereby creating a trading interest, and may select from terms associated with each of the fields to augment the trading interest. The parties may also specify counter-party filtering criteria in the trading interest. The computer program then displays to the creator of the trading interest any previously entered trading interests that might result in a trade, and that satisfy the counter-party filtering criteria, if any. The computer program also displays the new trading interest to the creators of the previously entered trading interests. Two of the parties may agree to negotiate using structured messages that maintain their anonymity.

Abstract: An automated marketplace is separated into tiers, with behavioral requirements for each tier. Tier eligibility is a “structural incentive” for market participants to exhibit desirable behavior and eschew undesirable behavior. Tiered eligibility also reflects the natural imbalance of liquidity in the market and the need to preserve the identity of a class of liquidity providers, which further leads to a structure that can preserve the integrity of person-to-person trading relationships even in an automated environment. Within each tier, participant behavior leads to a ranking for that participant. When specific events occur, these events are allocated based on participant ranking. Participant ranking is an “activity incentive” that influences the behavior of market participants. Certain events are defined as desirable or undesirable, and when performed by a market participant, lead to positive incentives or negative incentives, of structural and/or monetary type.

Abstract: For a trade between a buyer and a seller, wherein at least one of the buyer and the seller is a non-clearing member that is not a member of a clearing entity, an identification of a clearing member associated with the non-clearing member is obtained, the clearing member being a member of the clearing entity. A software program appends the identification of the clearing member to a trade report for the received trade, and sends the trade report including the identification of the clearing member to the clearing entity. The software program obtains permission for the trade by consulting a predetermined permission list, or by sending a request for permission to the clearing member. The clearing entity clears the trade based on the account of the clearing member appended to the trade report.

Abstract: A stock loan contract is anonymously formed through a software program and sent to a central clearing party that performs a novation in which first and second contracts are substituted for the stock loan contract, the first contract being between the borrower and the central clearing party, the second contract being between the lender and the central clearing party. The central clearing party guarantees the delivery of the stock and the cash for the stock loan contract, so the parties for the contract can be anonymous to each other. The software program may provide price discovery via a batch auction, in which the software program determines an equilibrium price for the batch auction, the equilibrium price being selected to maximize the number of shares loaned in the auction.