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June 16, 2018 | Published By Bandini
Takeover: JAY-Z & Beyonce Just Released An Album. It's Their World Now (Video)
Following two confessional albums that put some vulnerable moments of their relationship and marriage on public display, JAY-Z and Beyoncé unite for a collaborative album. Today (June 16), The Carters released their first ever joint project, a nine-track effort with no warning. The move comes as the superstar couple is currently performing together care of the On The Run II Tour.
EVERYTHING IS LOVE sends a new message. The parents of three children are currently celebrating their 10th anniversary.
Big Daddy Kane Details Recording This 1988 Mixtape Collabo With JAY-Z (Video)
Bey's most recent album, 2016's Lemonade, and Jay's latest solo affair, 4:44, both addressed the couple's marital problems, including Jay's admission of infidelity. That album arrived one year ago this month.
With this major news, The Carters drop a video to one of the nine songs: "Apes**t." Shot at Paris, France's The Louvre last month, the video and project were wildly kept under wraps in the age of gossip. In his closing verse, Jay takes shot at the NFL and the Recording Academy:
"I said no to the Superbowl / You need me, I don't need you / Every night we in the end-zone / Tell the NFL we in stadiums too / Last night was a f*cking zoo / Stage-diving in a pool of people / Ran through Liverpool like a f*cking Beatle / Smoke gorilla glue like it's f*cking legal / Tell the Grammy's, '*uck that 0 for 8 sh*t' /Have you ever seen the crowd goin' ape-sh*t?"
JAY-Z & Diddy Built Empires. Now They Aim To Help Other Black Businesses Grow
At a time when the NFL is disconnecting itself from the protests in favor of Black lives, JAY-Z blitzes the league on the mic. He wants power in the league, for himself and other Black investors and sports fans. After attending this year's Grammy Awards and going home empty-handed for 4:44, Hov' has had enough with that institution as well, feeling as though his most personal LP was slighted on a very public stage.
The story for The Carters does not end with a family feuding, a marriage crumbling, or an elevator breakdown. The power-couple of the last 15-plus years makes a move to remind everybody they are still on top, and madly in love.
Nas Finally Releases His Album…For Real This Time (Audio)
The move comes less than 24 hours after Jay's former foe (turned friend) Nas debuted his Kanye West-produced album, Nasir—a release that was unavailable to stream and purchase until late last night (June 15) West is in the midst of releasing five consecutive projects. West and The Carters are currently repairing a relationship that was allegedly damaged in late 2016. Bey and West have a complicated history as well, as Kanye went from once defending her at the 2009 VMAs, to publicly ranting about her on stage in 2016.
Whether the timing of EVERYTHING IS LOVE is competitive or coincidental, the clear winners are the listeners. Listen to the full album on TIDAL.
Spotted at BuzzFeed.


Describe the type of student who should not attend University of Central Florida and explain why.
Football players might want to wait a little while before applying to UCF. We won zero games last year. Hopefully with the coaching change we will find our stride again.
I really don't think that the University of Central Florida is limited to any one type of student. When you go on campus it is clear that there is a wide variety of students, a great array of educational programs, and an expansive amount of clubs all catering to many different interests. I guess, a student should not be lazy if they wish to attend the University of Central Florida, but I know many lazy students who are attending this university and they are excelling.
A student that is just focused on partying and not on their future should not attend. This will disrupt everyone else that is there to learn and achieve something while they are just there to mess around.
Students that are not willing to work hard, don't have any focus or discipline to get tasks completed.
University of Central Florida: Describe the type of student who should attend University of Central Florida. Why?
University of Central Florida: What is a typical University of Central Florida student like? Describe the type of person that should attend University of Central Florida.
University of Central Florida: What are the top 3 reasons someone should attend University of Central Florida?
University of Central Florida: What was a typical University of Central Florida student like in high school? Describe the type of person that should attend University of Central Florida.
University of Central Florida: What are the top 3 things that students do for fun at University of Central Florida?
University of Central Florida: What is the UCF student housing situation like?


The perfect drill guide for shelving, whether you're building from scratch or adding to existing furniture! This jig from Kreg offers hardened steel drill guides to make sure you're on the mark every time. A locating pin helps you quickly reference the same mark every time, and the jig extender allows you to link up multiple jigs to make quick work of any project. Built-in storage allows you to keep your drill bits on hand. Standard hole spacing is 32 mm.
Bought this to put adjustable shelves in our cabinets on our new miter saw station. It works very well.
Great jig for the price. Easy to use and does a great job.


CBD oil is extracted from the cannabis plant. There are several components comprising the cannabis plant, the two of those components are the cannabidiol or CBD and the tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. The THC has been discovered to have psychotropic features that is the reason why it is the component of the plant that is illegal. While CBD has another story. The reason why the use of medical marijuana is slowly being accepted in some parts of the world is because of CBD. The CBVD does not contain the same psychotropic properties as THC. The CBD oil can provide a number of great health benefits to the patient.
There are so many people that are interested in CBD oil because of the number of health benefits that it can provide. There have been a lot of people that are suffering from certain disease and illness that have been cured or relived from their condition because of CBD. Among the most common health benefits of using CBD oil is the prevention and treatment of chronic pain and inflammation, chronic diseases and cancer, and arthritis. CBD oil is also known to be really effective for people that have skin conditions, sleep disorders like insomnia, stress, depression, anxiety, low appetite, and poor metabolic function.
CBD oil is also known to have some analgesic properties that is why it is really advised for treating chronic pain conditions such as back pains and the pain that a person will get from cancer. CBD also has the capability of blocking pain receptors in the body. CBD is capable of releasing some neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine which are considered as feel good hormones. A person will be able to feel less discomfort and pain with these hormones. That is the reason why CBD oil is now considered to have more health benefits compared to the other pharmaceutical pain killers.
Reduces inflammation – with the use of CBD oil, people can be relieved from serious cases of migraines, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, joint disorders, and pervasive muscle pain. There are some people that even noticed some improvement in their inflammatory symptoms.
Decreases anxiety – CBD oil is can also provide great benefits to people that have anxiety and those that are suffering from high levels of stress. CBD oil can also elevate the positive neurotransmitters and hormones in the body that will make it all more effective.


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Q: Intercepting global variable definition in javascript I'm trying to tidy up some javascript code and one of the steps is removing all useless (or plain wrong) global variables that have slipped in from errors like:
for (prop in obj) { ...

instead of
for (var prop in obj) { ...

JSLint helps a bit in finding out this nastiness, but it is not 100% foolproof when the nastiness happens at runtime.
I already tried to add some monitoring code that routinely checks the global scope logging to the console if some new variable is detected, and that helped some more, but when it tells me that a new global variable named "i" has been detected ... well, it's a mess finding out where that happened in thousands of lines of code.
So here we come: is there a better way/tool/script/whatever to find the little pests?
My dream is something like a Firebug plugin that stops the execution whenever a new global variable is created...
Thanks!

A: You may find this bookmarklet useful.
Also, checkout this answer: How to detect creation of new global variables?

A: You can now intercept variable definition as explained on this similar question
window.__defineSetter__('sneakyVariable', function() {
    debugger
})

and you'll be able to find where it was defined

A: I wonder if you could set a timeout to create a list of all global variables and then compare that against the last time the timeout fired. I found this on Stack Overflow, and maybe you could use this code in conjunction with a setTimeout() to get what you want.

Blockquote
  Yes and no. "No" in almost every situation. "Yes," but only in a limited manner, if you want to check the global scope. Take the following example:
      var a = 1, b = 2, c = 3;

for ( var i in window ) {
    console.log(i, typeof window[i], window[i]);
}

Stack Overflow link: Getting All Variables In Scope

A: well, I wrote this long time ago, so code sucks, but it does the job: https://gist.github.com/1132193
paste in the firebug console or include as a script.

A: You say, you are trying to tidy up some code.
In that case - use IDE, like NetBeans PHP (free) or JetBrains WebStorm (30$). They both color global variables, and do lots of other useful stuff ;)
If your polling script will still detect creation of global variables - trace down offending functions, and make them suffer ;) Eventually, the code will become clean.

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WASHINGTON – Caring for the nation's Veterans is a shared honor and a shared responsibility, which is why the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) this year is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its partnership with the nation's medical and health professional schools.
Since 1946, VA has worked with academic institutions to provide high quality, state-of-the-art health care to America's Veterans and to train new health professionals to meet the rapidly evolving health care needs within VA and the nation.
The partnership between VA and academic affiliates dates back to the end of World War II. Following the allied victory, VA faced the imminent arrival of over 100,000 new patients and was confronted with a severe lack of resources as it had only 98 mostly rural hospitals offering fewer than 84,000 beds and 1,000 physicians. To meet this challenge, VA created a landmark partnership with U.S. medical schools to establish a dynamic, talented workforce of students, physician residents, and faculty who provide world class care to Veterans while providing training to generations of future physicians that has evolved to include more than forty health care professions over the decades.
"Through this historic collaboration, VA has become the largest single provider of medical training in the country, where more than 40,000 residents and 20,000 medical students receive clinical training each year," said Darrell G. Kirch, President and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Today, VA conducts the largest education and training programs for health professionals in the United States. VA has affiliations with more than 1,800 educational institutions; more than 70 percent of all doctors in the U.S. have received training in the VA healthcare system. VA invests $900 million annually to provide clinical education and training programs to more than 120,000 interns, residents, fellows and students in more than 40 clinical health professions. Among them are over 10,000 graduate medical education (GME) positions training more than 40,000 physicians in training annually.
For more information about VA's Office of Academic Affiliations, visit www.va.gov/OAA. To learn more about the 70th anniversary of VA's partnership with medical schools, visit www.va.gov/OAA/OAA_70th_Anniversary.asp and www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/http:/www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/category/postname/academic-affiliations/.
For more information about the AAMC's relationship with VA, visit https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/vahealthcare.


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25 Years Ago: Puff Daddy Rips Off the Police's 'Every Breath You Take'
Allison Rapp
Allison Rapp Published: June 16, 2022
Hulton Archive / Scott Gries, Getty Images
Music lost one of its most promising talents when the Notorious B.I.G died at the age of 24 as the result of a Los Angeles drive-by shooting in 1997.
His friends grieved especially. Sean Combs, who's been known as Puff Daddy and Diddy, had been close with B.I.G. since the very beginning: B.I.G. signed to Combs' label Bad Boy Records when it first launched in 1993. Combs also produced and added vocals to several of the tracks on B.I.G.'s debut album, 1994's Ready to Die.
"You get guilt when you lose a friend," Combs told People magazine in 2017. "It could've been you. You have to deal with that. It's a heavy thing."
After the Notorious B.I.G.'s death, Combs chose to pay tribute by releasing a song titled "I'll Be Missing You" on May 27, 1997: "Memories give me the strength I need to proceed / Strength I need to believe / My thoughts big I just can't define / Wish I could turn back the hands of time."
"I'll Be Missing You" was an instant hit, debuting at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and winning a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
There was one group, however, who was left out of the success: the Police, whose 1983 song "Every Breath You Take," was heavily sampled throughout "I'll Be Missing You." Combs lifted Andy Summers' famous guitar riff as well as the melody of its chorus, which was sung by Smalls' widow, Faith Evans.
Listen to Puff Daddy's 'I'll Be Missing You'
Summers wasn't even aware of the sampling until one of his children pointed it out.
"My 10-year-old came in the house and came over," Summers later told UCR. "He goes, 'Hey Dad, I want you to come listen to my radio in the room. There's a guy who is completely doing your guitar thing.' I went in and it was the first time I'd heard Puff Daddy and whatever he called that song. I went, 'Oh my God.'"
The Police immediately sprang into action. "We went from there and called the manager," Summers said. "I think we ended up settling out of court and we got some kind of royalty. But I mean, I think he sold 30 million singles with that track or something, and we didn't get anything out of it."
More specifically, Summers didn't get anything out of it. Sting was the only credited writer of "Every Breath You Take," and had not permitted its sampling. He was subsequently awarded 100% of the royalties on "I'll Be Missing You."
Summers was awarded nothing in what he described years later as the "major rip-off of all time."
"He actually sampled my guitar, and that's what he based his whole track on," Summers said. "Stewart [Copeland]'s not on it. Sting's not on it. I'd be walking around Tower Records, and the fucking thing would be playing over and over. It was very bizarre while it lasted."
Legends Who Never Had a No. 1 Single
It's all the more surprising when you consider the success so many of them had by any other measure.
Next: Top 10 Police Songs
Source: 25 Years Ago: Puff Daddy Rips Off the Police's 'Every Breath You Take'
Filed Under: police
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Trauma Response
Home › Free Essays › Psychology › Trauma Response
Psychosocial Factors Associated with Trauma Response
Denial, Shock, or Disbelief
Anger, Mood Swings, Irritability
Price for a
Guilt, Self-blame, Shame
Feeling Disconnected and Numb
Feeling Sad or Hopeless
Analysis of Psychosocial Factors
Overlapping Patterns and Responses to Trauma
Related Free Psychology Essays
People respond to trauma through developing different psychological conditions:
People who suffered loss of loved ones, terrible accidents, war, natural disasters and alcoholic dependents respond to trauma through shock, denial, or disbelief (Yehuda et al., 2000). They are in denial about what is happing in their lives. Sometimes, they become defensive about their conditions. They may choose not to speak with people they once loved as they are still in shock. Others resort to alcohol and substance abuse as an alternative to dealing with the trauma. It constitutes denial. Those affected by traumatic experiences are still in disbelief perhaps due to the fact that the trauma-triggering events happened so fast, but there was nothing they could have done to prevent them (Yehuda et al., 2000).
Most people who have survived serious traumatic experiences are jumpy and can start at anything. They are emotionally insecure. They have mood swings, so it is difficult to predict their reactions. During one moment, they can be jovial; during another one they are sad. Emotional outbursts are common among these people (Yehuda & McEwen, 2004). Some lack focus; they are easily irritated by what others say or think about them. At the workplace, these individuals may fail to concentrate on assigned duties. They develop hostility towards colleagues, a factor that could interfere with job delivery.
Victims of trauma may feel guilty and instead of focusing on how they can move on, blame themselves. They ask: what did they do wrong? They feel embarrassed about their situation and avoid social gatherings and events that will expose them to other people. Another act of shame occurs when they avoid reminders of traumatic experience (Yehuda & McEwen, 2004). Victims feel that something is naturally not right with them. It could lead to them hurting or abusing themselves. Some choose to react negatively by hurting other people to compensate for their own pain.
When one lacks trust, he/she brings about disconnection. Post-trauma victims feel numb and do not want to confide in other people. When horrific things happen, it may take some time for the victims to accept the pain and feel secure again. Getting over terrible events depends on an individual, the support they get and the severity of the traumatic event (Yehuda et al., 2000). Psychotherapists suggest that the sooner one becomes positive and shares their feelings with relatives and support groups, the faster they will recover (Yehuda & McEwen, 2004).
Post-trauma victims may feel intense sadness, hopelessness, helplessness and worthlessness, factors that can recur and prevent them from functioning normally. In worse circumstances, depression follows. Other related symptoms to sadness include depressed moods for most of the day, fatigue, loss of appetite, poor concentration, insomnia, and disinterest in activities one enjoyed before the trauma.
A new research at Howard University discovered that being positive about life could help to reduce the potential psychological long-term effects of trauma and speed up recovery for victims who develop trauma-related psychological conditions (Yehuda & McEwen, 2004). The results showed a considerable correlation between purpose in life and the recovery process. Analysts suggest that there exists a relationship between developing a purpose in life and recovering from a psychiatric trauma-related disorder (Yehuda & McEwen, 2004). Study respondents were 260 Africa-Americans, who at one moment in their lives experienced a traumatic incident. The study was meant to address the insufficient evidence for conclusive treatment of psychiatric disorders related to trauma. Study participants were classified into three groups:
47 participants fitted the resilient sub-groups
87 were identified to have recovered from DSM-IV diagnosis
127 were identified with the current condition
The outcomes of the research indicate that people respond to trauma differently: reactively, passively and proactively. Proactive responses include adapting to the conditions, accepting what happened, and adjusting emotionally and positively (Yehuda & McEwen, 2004). Reactive responses mostly take place long after a stressful incident. A passive response entails numbness and ignorance towards a stressor.
Generally, proactive people will overcome stressors and are able to cope with difficult and unexpected situations (Southwick, 2011). On the contrary, more reactive people will experience stress from stressors (triggering factors). Those who respond to trauma passively will suffer long-time effects and have poor internal coping actions. These observations suggest that whether or not a traumatic experience will have little or severe impact on an individual depends on their different coping abilities (Yehuda & McEwen, 2004). It is significant to realize the difference between the short-term and long-term trauma. Long-term trauma remains in the unconscious from past experiences such as childhood abuse. Trauma can be overcome through psychotherapy that involves revisiting the origin of the traumatic event (Southwick, 2011).
Research shows that accepting and understanding one's psychological state is very significant and offers a good starting point towards recovery (Yehuda & McEwen, 2004). Misconceptions about trauma could derail the healing process that calls for the need to accept traumatized people, understand their feelings and offer them psychological support instead of viewing them as psychotic (Southwick, 2011). When individuals are in emotional pain and cannot comfort themselves, it is important to offer them support from friends, support groups and relatives. It is crucial to talk to traumatized people and support them in their recovery.
Victims of trauma need to understand that they are not sick or delusional; that the experiences are only temporary. It is important for assessors to understand what the traumatized person is experiencing is real and valid. Where appropriate, the assessor proceeds by gaining insight into the traumatic event and the outcomes such as dissociation, posttraumatic symptoms, substance abuse, psychotic reactions and somatic symptoms (Southwick, 2011). Such enquiries should be conducted in a sensitive, empathetic and supportive manner.
Counselor Impairment Paper
Thinking Philosophically
Psychoanalytic Personality


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If the quantity is large,the price will be also made some discount.


From memory, the late 40's, 50's, 60's & 70' saw most churches holding traditional Harvest Thanksgiving Services. Their aisles were highly decorated with an enormous assortment of vegetables, fruit, freshly prepared loaves, dough baked sheaves, brilliantly arranged flowers, hay bales and in the mining villages, a huge lump of polished coal with a miners lamp placed on the top, and numerous decorated water containers, not forgetting a few bottles of red and white wines. It was a celebration and each church would be packed, with the church roof struggling to hang on as the worshippers sang their favourite Harvest hymns giving thanks to God for His mercies and all His provisions, Is this scene continued today? Is this concept witnessed in the 21st Century, I don't think so, but the following script by the BBC guest speaker Rt.Rev Nick Baines during the Radio 4's Today Programme 'Thought for the Day' 2nd October 2017 issues a challenge.
"It's harvest time again, and all over the land churches are desperately trying to find something new to say about creation, cultivation and deprivation. A bit like the vegetables and flowers on display, it's a big challenge to keep it all fresh.
Nearly three thousand years ago the recently liberated Jewish people were about to enter the land they believed had been promised to them. Yet, along with words of encouragement and comfort went words of warning like this: When you get established in this land you will soon prosper. You will build your houses, cultivate your fields and grow your wealth. Then you will begin to forget that you once had nothing and could not save yourselves. It won't be long before you start exploiting other people. So, the cycle of each year is going to be shaped by rituals that will compel you to remember, re-tell and re-enact the story of your dependence … on God, the earth and each other.
Harvest, then, confronts us with our obligations to the earth and each other. It challenges our ethics and our economic priorities. And it reconnects us with the simple fact of our mortality and mutuality".


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Uttarakhand CM approves Rs 100 crore for development works
Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], January 7 (ANI): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has approved about Rs 100 crore for proposals relating to different departments including home, drinking water and sanitation, women empowerment and child development, secondary education and agriculture.
An official release said the Chief Minister has given financial approval of Rs 20 lakh for the proposal of Home Department for purchase of vehicles.
It said Rs 114.92 lakh has been approved for solid waste Infrastructure (collection and transportation) to Muni ki Reti Municipality.
The release said it has been agreed to release an amount of Rs 5.50 crore and Rs 6 crore for maintenance works of pumping and urban drinking water schemes respectively. (ANI)


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Trading platform with automated negotiation and option crossing
A system and method for trading securities that include at least one options leg is provided. The system generally includes a database, handlers, a network and at least one server. The database stores user information, security information and transaction information. The handlers receive information feeds from at least one public exchange. The at least one server implements an exchange facility that is capable of exchanging information with client terminals to allow the client to initiate at least one offer to trade a security having an option leg, identifying users interested in the offer, broadcasting the offer to the interested users and conducting a defined period auction among the interested users. The system and method also automatically cross the options legs on exchanges and facilitate negotiation when the auction is not consummated.
Newhouse, Robert (New York, NY, US)
Burros, Chet (New York, NY, US)
Berman, Ross (New York, NY, US)
Mintz, Hal (Mahwah, NJ, US)
G06Q40/00
20080109326 Special occasion gift ordering business method - "Remember Easy" May, 2008 Meredith
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20090048731 Systems And Methods For Unbundling Scheduled Maintenance Operations February, 2009 Levy et al.
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20070136178 Trust based architecture for listing service June, 2007 Wiseman et al.
20040030638 Method and apparatus for conducting loan repurchase transactions February, 2004 Dwin
20050222944 System and method for managing the reimbursement of expenses using expense reports October, 2005 Dodson Jr. et al.
20090171691 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A WEB-BASED SOCIAL NETWORKING DATABASE July, 2009 Lubarski et al.
20100070358 REC CREDIT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND METHOD March, 2010 Olson et al.
20050288989 Methods and systems for synchronizing distribution center and warehouse demand forecasts with retail store demand forecasts December, 2005 Kim et al.
VYAS, ABHISHEK
IP GROUP OF DLA PIPER LLP (US) (ONE LIBERTY PLACE 1650 MARKET ST, SUITE 5000, PHILADELPHIA, PA, 19103, US)
1. A system for trading securities including at least one options leg, comprising: a database for storing user information, security information and transaction information; at least one handler coupled to at least one exchange for receiving information feeds from the at least one the exchange; a network coupling the database, feed handlers and at least one server together and allowing access to the at least one server from client terminals; wherein the at least one server is capable of exchanging information with client terminals allow the client to initiate at least one offer to trade a security having an option leg, identifying users interested in the offer, broadcasting the offer to the interested users and conducting a defined period auction among the interested users.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one server further is capable of receiving liquidity from the interested users and consummating a trade based on the offer and received liquidity.
3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the server further is capable of receiving liquidity from at least one public exchange and consummating the trade based on the offer, received liquidity and additional liquidity from the at least one public exchange.
4. The system according to claim 3 wherein the system is capable of concluding the auction without consummating a transaction and initiating a negotiation between an initiator of the offer and at least one of the losing bidders.
5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the negotiation is between the initiator of the offer and the closest losing bidder.
6. The system according to claim 1 wherein the system is capable of concluding the auction without consummating a transaction and initiating a negotiation between an initiator of the offer and at least one of-the losing bidders.
8. The system according to claim 1, wherein auctions in a particular security are exclusive to the initiating bidder for a period of time.
9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one server is capable, upon consummation of a trade, of automatically crossing the options legs on at least one public exchange.
10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the trade includes a stock component and the at least one server is capable of accounting for prices changes of the options legs resulting from crossing on public exchanges and offsetting the price from the stock component.
11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the trade comprises at least one of a tied transaction or a block option trade.
12. A method of trading a security having at least one option component, comprising: providing a display having a show pane and an auction pane; setting an interest criteria for trade offers having at least one option leg; displaying incoming trade offers corresponding to the interest criteria in the show pane; selecting to view liquidity associated with particular incoming trade offers; prompting the user to declare liquidity associated with the incoming trade offer to allow the user to participate in an auction associated with the trade.
13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: providing an indication to the user of whether the user consummated a trade based on the liquidity declared.
14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: prompting the user to negotiate with an entity that initiated the trade offer when the trade is not consummated.
15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising: prompting the user through an electronic interface to provide information used to negotiate with the entity; and transmitting electronic information between the user and the entity on the trade offer; and consummating a transaction when the user and entity agree.
16. A method for trading securities including at least one options leg, comprising: storing user information, security information and transaction information; receiving information feeds from the at least one the exchange and trade information from at least one client system; exchanging messages with the client terminals; initiating at least one offer to trade a security having an option leg based on information received from one of the client terminals; identifying users interested in the offer; broadcasting the offer to the interested users; and conducting a defined period auction among the interested users.
17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: receiving liquidity from the interested users and consummating a trade based on the offer and received liquidity.
18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: receiving liquidity from at least one public exchange; and consummating the trade based on the offer, received liquidity and additional liquidity from the at least one public exchange.
19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: concluding the auction without consummating a transaction; and initiating a negotiation between an initiator of the offer and at least one of the losing bidders.
20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the negotiation is between the initiator of the offer and the closest losing bidder.
21. The method according to claim 16, wherein auctions in a particular security are exclusive to the initiating bidder for a period of time.
22. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: automatically crossing the options legs on at least one public exchange.
23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the trade includes a stock component and further comprising: accounting for prices changes of the options legs resulting from crossing on public exchanges and offsetting the price from the stock component.
24. The method according to claim 16, wherein the trade comprises at least one of a tied transaction or a block option trade.
The present invention relates to systems and methods for trading assets, including securities, on and off public exchanges.
Electronic equity markets, such as The Nasdaq Stock Market collect, aggregate, and display trading information to various market participants. Electronic equity markets also provide electronic systems and networks that provide access to the market to traders and allow them to access trading information and liquidity in the marketplace. Using current systems, a trader wishing to build a trading position, particularly a large option position or complex transaction, will communicate with a "broker" or "sales trader" at an InterDealer-Broker. The broker then reaches out to a set of "contra" clients who may be interested in partaking in the other side of the order. The broker acts as a middleman within this paradigm, and negotiates on behalf of both parties. Once the broker obtains the agreement of both sides to a price and quantity to be traded, the broker then does the necessary work to cross the option components by submitting them to an applicable options exchange.
This approach is slow and laborious and results in time to execution to be measured in minutes, and indeed in some cases, even hours. Underlying this lack of efficiency is inefficient communications, which are carried out via electronic mail, phone calls, and/or instant messaging between a trader and one or more brokers and the broker's clients. The inefficiency is compounded when a trader is involved in multiple transactions simultaneously, requiring the trader to personally keep track of numerous individual communications associated with numerous different orders.
Additionally, brokers involved in transactions do not have the same incentives as the trading entities on either side of the broker. Each trader has a natural incentive to seek the lowest price, whereas the broker has the sole incentive to consummate a matching trade, with no sensitivity to trade price.
Still further, options trading, which requires manual options crossing, has historically required large broker commissions. This is unlike other asset classes—brokered equities, futures, etc.—where the standard commission rates have dropped over the last 5 years due to increasing electronic handling of order types.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a platform is provided that allows natural parties to place orders (requests for liquidity) for securities, particularly those involving at least one options leg for the purpose of identifying active and passive liquidity in the security. The platform further broadcasts the offer to interested registered users and conducts auctions pursuant to which interested users declare liquidity against pending offers. The platform aggregates liquidity against pending offers, consummates trades where possible and allows the offeror to meet the highest losing bidder in an electronic venue to consummate transactions through negotiation when the auction does not result in a consummated trade. The platform further automatically handles the process of crossing the option legs on exchanges and printing the stock legs as appropriate. In this manner, the platform collects and aggregates passive liquidity and leverages actively to allow trading by parties in complex securities that include at least one options leg in a manner heretofore not possible.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a system for trading securities, including at least one options leg, includes a database, at least one handler, a network and at least one server. The database stores user information, security information and transaction information. The at least one handler receives information feeds from at least one public exchange. The network couples the database, feed handlers and at least one server together and allows access to the at least one server from client terminals. The servers implement an exchange facility that is capable of exchanging information with client terminals to allow any client to initiate at least one offer to trade a security having an options leg, identifying users interested in the offer, broadcasting the offer to the interested users and conducting a defined period auction among the interested users.
The system is further capable of receiving liquidity from the interested users and consummating a trade based on the offer and received liquidity. It is further is capable of receiving liquidity from at least one public exchange and consummating the trade based on the offer, received liquidity and additional liquidity from the at least one public exchange. It is still further capable of concluding the auction without consummating a transaction and initiating a negotiation between an initiator of the offer and at least one of the losing bidders, generally the closest losing bidder. The auctions may be exclusive to the initiating bidder for a period of time and, upon consummation of trades using the exchange facility, the options legs may be automatically crossed on public exchanges with any price differences offset from stock securities associated with the trade where applicable. The trades may typically be tied transactions or block options trades, but are not limited to such trades.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method of trading a security having at least one option component, includes: providing a display having a show pane and an auction pane; setting an interest criteria for trade offers having at least one option leg; displaying incoming trade offers corresponding to the interest criteria in the show pane;, selecting to view liquidity associated with particular incoming trade offers; prompting the user to declare liquidity associated with the incoming trade offer to allow the user to participate in an auction associated with the trade. The method may further include providing an indication to the user of whether the user consummated a trade based on the liquidity declared; and prompting the user to negotiate with an entity that initiated the trade offer when the trade is not consummated. This negotiation may be provided through an electronic interface.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method for trading securities including at least one options leg, includes storing user information, security information and transaction information; receiving information feeds from the at least one the exchange and trade information from at least one client system; exchanging messages with the client terminals; initiating at least one offer to trade a security having an option leg based on information received from one of the client terminals; identifying users interested in the offer; broadcasting the offer to the interested users; and conducting a defined period auction among the interested users. The method may further include receiving liquidity from the interested users and consummating a trade based on the offer and received liquidity. The method may further include: receiving liquidity from at least one public exchange; and consummating the trade based on the offer, received liquidity and additional liquidity from the at least one public exchange.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
The above described features and advantages of the present invention will be more fully appreciated with reference to the appended figures.
FIG. 1 depicts a system for trading securities according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 depicts a diversity of clients and exchanges through with which the platform interacts for the purpose of initiating trades of securities according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 depicts a functional bock diagram of the platform for trading securities against liquidity according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 depicts a work flow method for receiving initiated requests for liquidity, liquidity and trading against the identified liquidity according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative view of a graphical user interface format based on a display of pending offers and auctions according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 7-11 depict views of illustrative graphical user interfaces for allowing users to interact with the trading platform according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 depicts an illustrative method for crossing and reprising trades with at least on options leg according to an embodiment of the present invention.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a platform is provided that allows natural parties to initiate trading in securities having at least one options leg by creating time auctions, allowing other natural parties to participate in auctions by supplying liquidity in the securities being auctioned, and allowing parties to meet in an electronic venue to consummate transactions facilitated through the auction, and handle the associated process of crossing the option legs and printing the stock legs as appropriate to complete the transaction and remain compliant with securities trading regulations. The platform breaks down barriers that exist today in trading options through brokers and thus facilitates matching natural parties to produce significant efficiencies in the trading of securities involving at least one options leg and to realize additional advantages over brokered trading systems.
Below are definitions for certain terms used herein that will facilitate understanding embodiments of the present invention.
An option is the right to by a stock, commodity or other asset or instrument at a stated price during a stated time period. Options are generally utilized in 2 distinct ways; 1) to establish a directional bet on an underlying stock by entering into options contracts; or 2) to trade the expansion and contraction of volatility in the options themselves, which requires an offsetting stock transaction or hedge, through a Volatility (Tied or Delta Neutral) transaction.
Block Option Transactions
Trades consisting of 1 or more option legs and exceeding 500 contracts in size per leg. This is a directional play with no stock component.
Tied (Volatility) Transactions
Trades consisting of 1 or more option legs, combined with an offsetting (hedge) stock component that reduces or eliminates directional risk and effectively leaves only the volatility to fluctuate, hence a volatility type trade.
Active Liquidity
This type of liquidity refers to venues where the intent to trade a security is published and reflects an actionable bid or offer that initiators can trade against:
Option Exchanges
Retail, firm, and market-maker orders are posted to the 6 domestic option exchanges, and are a source of liquidity that can be traded against electronically.
Stock Exchanges and ECN's
There are many exchanges in various countries, including in the United States NYSE, Nasdaq, and ECN's among others, where orders are published and executable, constituting a source of liquidity to trade against.
Complex Order Books
These are trades with more than 1 leg (spreads, tied transactions, conversion/reversals, combos). The ISE and CBOE have live books containing orders for such complex order books, with NYSE Area offering similar capabilities in 2Q 2008.
Passive Liquidity
Passive liquidity is a term that means unposted liquidity that may not exist in any form until an appropriate query is issued.
Marketmakers
Marketmakers can provide passive liquidity for solicited orders outside of the NBBO, in addition to providing natural liquidity to tied transactions.
As defined previously, a bank may facilitate an initiated order, acting as a liquidity source of last resort.
Entities that are willing to provide liquidity for initiated orders, but do not display indications of that liquidity on a posted market.
Liquidity Aggregators
Entities that act as an intermediary for the purposes of manually sourcing liquidity for an initiated order.
Floor Brokers
Floor brokers can obtain unposted liquidity from exchange marketmakers by requesting a specific market in a tied or block transaction.
Inter-Dealer Brokers
These entities specialize in matching organic counterparties in tied and block transactions by leveraging relationships with multiple liquidity providers that can act as contras to an initiated order.
Sell-Side Agency Desks
These entities offer solicitation services similar to an IDB, as well as other ancillary brokerage functions.
FIG. 1 depicts a system 100 for trading securities according to an embodiment of the invention. The securities traded may include any type of securities. However, in a preferred embodiment the trades executed include trades having at least one options leg according to an embodiment of the present invention, such as tied transactions and block options transactions. Referring to FIG. 1, the system 100 includes a platform 102 that comprises a proxy 115, a book manager 120, a cancel manager 125, a database 135, an auditor manager 140, an ISE handler 145, a NASDAQ TRF Feed Handler 150. In addition, the platform is connected to client terminals and systems 105 through a network 10 and to different exchanges via a network 155.
The proxy 115 is generally implemented on a server, which may include one server or more than one "hot" server to provide redundancy. The proxy executes program instructions to communicate with the client systems according to mutually compatible protocols, generally including TCP/IP protocols and financial network protocols, in order to provide interactive displays to the client terminals and exchange user authentication information and trading information with client terminals and systems 105.
The proxy is generally coupled to one or more client terminals or systems 105 via the network 110. The client terminals generally-comprise a general purpose computer with a processor, memory, display, keyboard, pointing device, network interface and communications and display software, for example, such as a browser. However, the client terminals may also be handheld and other types of devices that allow display and exchange of information with remote devices and networks.
The proxy 115 serves registration and login displays to users at client terminals, stores registration information including userid and password information for each user in the database 135 and authenticates users through the login process. The proxy may also serve interactive screens to the user terminals and systems 105 allowing users at the terminals to initiate trade orders or respond to initiated orders by offering liquidity in the identified securities against which to trade. The proxy may further include software that acts as a "throttle" to limit the number of messages per second from a user to keep users from overwhelming the platform.
The network 110 may comprise any type of network or network connection for transferring information electronically between computers or other devices. It may comprise electrical, optical or wireless communications links that are direct or indirect through one or more interconnected computers. The network may also be a public network, a private network or a combination of public and private networks.
The proxy 115 within the platform 102 may further be coupled to the other elements of the platform through an internal data network or interconnections, and in particular to the exchange facility, which includes the book manager 120, the cancel manager 125, the execution manager 130, the database 135 and the audit manager 140.
The book manager 120 is implemented on a server (or multiple hot servers for redundancy) and executes program instructions to provide trading functionality according to embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, the book manager may: (i) receive initiated orders for trades, including trades having at least one option leg; (ii) define and conduct auctions (limit book) of securities, including tied transactions and block options trades involving registered users of the system to provide liquidity from public exchanges; (iii) receive liquidity information from registered users and public markets; (iv) match initiated orders with liquidity from contra users and public markets; (v) facilitate a negotiation after an auction between the order initiator and one or more of the losing bidders, including the most attractive losing bidders based on some criteria, including the closest losing bidder; and (vi) produce and transmit information and interactive displays to user terminals and systems 105 to facilitate collection and exchange of trading information used during the auction process for order matching. The book manager may be implemented in multiple servers to facilitate scalability of the system. In this regard, for example, the servers may be allocated particular securities symbols and be dedicated to conducting auctions of those securities. Alternatively, other load balancing techniques may be used to allocate processing among multiple servers. These techniques may be applied to any of the servers described herein.
The cancel manager 125 is a server (or multiple hot servers) that is coupled to the other elements of the platform 102 and exchange facility that collects information from the user about the duration of the auction and time information generally and cancels the auction when it has been terminated by the initiating user or otherwise is over because the auction time has expired or the order is cancelled based on defined rules or implicit cancellation (BBO). According to one embodiment of the invention, the initiator initiates a trade having one or more options leg in a particular security and is given exclusivity on the trading of that security through the platform for a defined period of time, for example, up to five minutes. The cancel manager 125 and the book manager 120 set up the exclusive auction and the cancel manager ends each auction when the duration expires or it is otherwise cancelled.
The execution manager is a server (or multiple hot servers) that is used to reprice legs of a transaction for public markets and submit customer crosses to the exchanges. The execution manager applies repricing logic where applicable to reprice complex transactions so that they can be crossed on public exchanges. In this regard, in a tied transaction, the options legs may be adjusted to exchange based prices and the resulting changed value offset against the stock price for printing on the exchanges. This enables compliance with trading regulations. The execution manager performs the repricing and communicates the repriced transactions to the public exchanges for publishing.
Once a match occurs within Ballista, a cross then needs to be conducted for the option components of the trade, and a print for the equity component. Ballista has written a computer-run algorithm that takes a match between 2 parties, and handles the business logic associated with putting the trade on the tape.
As a further example, if a match is between 2 customer parties, the repricing engine splits the option and stock trades, and crosses the option components using a Customer Match order type on the ISE. The option components, regardless of the agreed-upon price of the trade, are "repriced" to allow printing within the current ISE BBO. Once executed, the market value added or subtracted from the option components in order to reprice it within the BBO is then added to the equity component. The equity component of the trade is printed to NASDAQ TRF using a contingent trade identifier. Since the price of the equity component has been altered to allow the option component to cross within the BBO, the equity leg of the trade may fall outside of the underlying security's current NBBO; doing so remains compliant with applicable regulations, as contingent trades are exempt from equity trade-through rules under the 611A exemption.
If the match occurs with a FIRM or MM capacity account on one or both sides of the trade, the trade is split with the option components being repriced appropriately and sent to the applicable exchange for a cross, with the stock then being printed to NASDAQ TRF using the contingent trade exemption. In certain cases, if the order is marketable as is without the need to reprice, the repricing engine may submit the cross in its entirety along with equity components, onto the ISE, CBOE or other exchange for a complex cross.
The ISE handler 145 is used to communicate information feeds from the ISE 160 to the platform so that the information may be made available to users 105 and also may be used by the other elements of the platform 102, and particularly the book manager 120, to facilitate mating orders with liquidity from exchanges including the ISE 160 and other sources. There may be additional feeds, including NASDAQ feed 150 and feeds for other exchanges and sources of liquidity further are coupled to the platform to bring the liquidity into the platform to trade against and to make market information available to users 105. Additional market data and information from blocks 170 and 175 may be brought into the platform sources of information about market prices and orders.
The database 135 is used to store information generated and used by the platform 102. In this regard, it may store: user credential information, including names, address, login, password, organization and other information associated with users and organizations; trading limits information for users and organizations; a securities master list of recognized securities or assets that may be traded on the platform; details of every action taken by users of the system, including initiated offers, consummated trades and repriced and crossed trade information.
The audit manager 140 may be implemented by one or more servers and is used to collect, monitor and display information about the platform, trades being handled by the system, and spread messages to facilitate monitoring the platform for malfunction, or other system problems.
FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative view of the platform in the context of sources of liquidity and a liquidity seeker seeking to trade securities, and particularly trade securities through orders having at least one options leg such as a tied transaction or block options trade. This figure illustrates the platform 200 communicating and exchanging information with sources of active liquidity and passive liquidity to facilitate a trade using the platform with a liquidity seeker.
In this regard, the liquidity seeker is given access to liquidity from public exchanges, including posted screen liquidity, complex order books, and market maker liquidity. The liquidity seeker is further given access to passive liquidity, which is generally unknown until a particular offer or query is made. The passive liquidity may include, for example and as shown, liquidity from hedge funds, such as event driven funds, voluntary arb funds, convertable arb funds, and risk arb funds. The passive liquidity may further come from broker dealers and prop desks and from banks and their facilitation desks. Today, there is no unified system for aggregating or accessing this passive and active liquidity and a broker or middleman is generally required for trading, which is conducted through phone calls, email and instant messaging to aggregate the liquidity. This process for complex trades having at least one options leg may take several minutes to several hours. The platform 102 provides aggregation of passive and active liquidity that provides an automated trading market to facilitate consummating trades, particularly those involving at least one options leg, between an initiator and various sources of liquidity and then crossing the options legs and printing any stock legs on as appropriate on public exchanges.
FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative functional block diagram showing different inputs into the exchange facility according to embodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, an exchange facility 320 is positioned in the middle between initiator users 305 who initiate trades, preferably having at least one options leg, contra users which are a source of passive liquidity and other trading systems, including automated trading systems 315 with FIX type interfaces which are a further source of liquidity. The trading facility 320 is further coupled to exchanges, for example the ISE and CBOE exchanges 325 and 330 and to options exchanges 340. In addition, a liquidity aggregator 335, which may be part of the exchange facility 320, receives liquidity from different options exchanges and aggregates liquidity in individual securities identified in different books on the exchanges.
The exchange facility 320 then performs an auction and matching function described above to permit traders, including the initiating trader, to trade against liquidity internal to the platform and liquidity external to the platform accessible through connections to the various exchanges. Completed transactions are crossed on the relevant exchanges and in a tied transaction the stock component is reprinted and published on an exchange, such as one of the exchanges 345, 350 or 355.
FIG. 12 depicts an illustrative method for crossing and reprising trades with at least on options leg according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 12, in step 1205, a consummated trade is output from the book manager. In step 1210, the trade details including but not limited to price, securities and volume information is input into the crossing manager. In step 1215 the crossing manager checks the NBBO price of all legs combined based on input from market data inputs, such as through market data inputs 170 and 175. In step 1220, the crossing manager determines whether the price is inside or outside NBBO on a market exchange. In step 1225, of it is not inside the NBBO, then the option is split from any equity legs. In step 1230, the option components are repriced to one tick away. In step 1235, the option components are crossed on ISE, CBOE or another exchange. In step 1240, the exchange the crossing manager determines whether the exchange is better for the cross. If so, the equity order is executed against the public market in step 1245. If not, the equity component is printed on the Nasdaq TRF.
If in step 1220 the price of the options legs are inside NBBO, then in step 1255 if the contra side is more than 1 tick away from the bid ask then in step 1260, the option components are repriced to 1 tick away. In step 1265, if either side of the trade is a member of ISE, CBOE or another exchange as determined instep 1265, then in step 1270 the order is routed to the opposing exchange of the member. If not, then in step 1275 the order is routed to ISE (or another exchange) as a complex solicitation.
If in step 1255 the contra side is not more than 1 tick away from bid/ask then in step 1280 if either side is a member of ISE or CBOE (or another exchange) then in step 1285 the order is routed to the opposing exchange of the member. If not, then in step 1290, the order is routed to ISE as a complex solicitation.
FIG. 4 depicts a workflow, which is a method 400 of trading according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 4, in step 405, an initiator submits an order via one of the user terminals 105 to the platform 100. The order is also referred to as a request for liquidity and generally includes at least one option leg and specifies the securities for trading and the terms of the trade. For example, in a tied transaction, the order specifies a particular option symbol, a particular number of contracts and a particular stock symbol and associated trading volumes as well as other order parameters, including prices and optionally minimum volumes and other terms. In a block options trade, the order may specify one or more options by symbol, the volume of each for trading and optionally minimum volumes and other terms.
In step 410, the platform receives the order information from the initiating user of the platform and determines whether any registered users of the platform have expressed interest based on the security or index including the security. Users express interest through their profile, maintained in the platform database, which allows users to set filters so that they only receive offers relative to individual securities or securities on particular indices.
In step 415, the platform broadcasts messages in response to the initiating offer or request for liquidity to the parties identified as interested in trades involving the security identified in the offer or request for liquidity. In step 420, the user terminals receive the messages from the platform and display one or more pending requests for liquidity involving securities in which the user has expressed interest. The display may comprise, for example, the definition of the order through a user interface screen on the user's terminal that may be browser based or may use any other technique for creating interactive displays.
In step 425, each user of the system may select to view liquidity associated with one or more pending offers or requests for liquidity through the user's terminal. The user's terminal, in response to the selection from an interactive display, sends information corresponding to the user's selection to the platform over a network connection. In step 430, the platform then returns a message to the user's terminal providing liquidity information corresponding to the pending offer and prompts the contra party viewing the liquidity to enter their liquidity. In step 435, each contra party enters, if desired, each contra party's liquidity. This may comprise entering an opposing order into the limit book for the securities associated with the initiating offer or request for liquidity. In step 440, the platform displays contra orders and matches them against the initiating offer and request for liquidity on a price and time priority bases. Because the initiating offer may choose to leverage a minimum trading size parameter, it is possible that matches against an initiating order are grouped or queued by the platform until such time that enough liquidity exists at the specified price level to fill the initiator defined minimum order.
Each initiator may enjoy a period of exclusivity for the precise order entered into the platform, which may be, for example, five minutes during which trading occurs and liquidity is posted against the initiator's order. In step 445, the platform concludes the offer, cancels any unmatched liquidity and places the remaining best bid and offer into a negotiation session to facilitate an exchange on terms mutually beneficial but potentially different from the original terms of the initiator's offer. The platform also performs crossing and publishing of stock prices on exchanges for the consummated transactions. In this manner, the platform is leveraged to quickly and efficiently identify active and passive liquidity and facilitate trading securities and particularly trading securities with at least one options leg in an efficient and relatively automated manner across a range of market participants and public exchanges. The platform further allows a range of parties to directly interact on securities of mutual interest, agree to terms of a trade, and then allow the system to automatically cross the trade on an options exchange. FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative view of different market participants that may use the platform to advantage to trade securities, and in particular securities with at least one options leg such as tied transactions or block options trades.
The user interface or graphical user interface (GUI) component of the platform reflects a number of features that permit and facilitate identifying and trading against active and passive liquidity across a range of market participants and exchanges in an automated manner.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the GUI is configured to allow users to track incoming shows, which are initiated and active orders and also to separately view liquidity for the shows or offers and interact with the visible order book of liquidity associated with particular offers. FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative view of a GUI 600, which includes a show pane 610 and an auction pane 620. The show and the auction panes also correspond to functionality of the platform, which pushes offers out to the show panes of users who have indicated interest in a particular security being traded and which enables further interaction in the auction context once the user has selected that he or she wishes to view liquidity associated with a particular offer. This brings up an interactive display in the auction pane corresponding to the selected order and allows participation by the user in the auction and allows the user to enter his or her liquidity.
In this regard, incoming shows transmitted as messages to the user terminal, which presents them, for example through a web interface, to the show pane, give a general description of the incoming order initiated by an initiating user of the system. The incoming shows are routed based on a user's specific request to view a symbol, sector, or index containing the symbol.
The incoming shows are presented with information regarding the requested order or request for liquidity (RFL). The details regarding the initiated side of the order may be included or removed to streamline the presentation of pending orders. When removed, for example, only descriptive information regarding the incoming show is presented to the user. That is, the show consists of a "transaction definition" which defines the legs that are part of the overall transaction, without giving visibility into the side or price the initiator has sent.
If a trading party has interest in providing an order for that set of components as a single transaction, he may do so by dragging the offer or request for liquidity from the show pane to an available window within the Auction Pane. According to an embodiment of the invention, the auction pane may have multiple panes, and the user may drag the offer to one of the panes. In this manner the user may view multiple shows and may participate in multiple auctions. Moreover, the platform 100, through the interactive display, receives information from the user terminal whenever the user views liquidity within a specific auction. The platform may further optionally require the user to reply with its own liquidity in order to encourage a fair marketplace by reducing use as an information tool only.
Illustrative views of the GUI according to an embodiment of the invention are further shown in FIGS. 7-9. The GUIs described herein are displayed on user terminals 105 and may be provided through a browser interface resident on the user terminals that receive content from one ore more of the server elements within the platform via a network. Alternatively, the GUI may be created via custom software stored locally on the user's terminal or served remotely from one of the servers within the platform. In any case, the GUI is interactive and allows the display of information received from one or more servers within the platform and also receives input from users and transmits information based on this input, typically user entered information and selections, back to one or more of the servers within the platform.
FIG. 7 depicts a graphical user interface that may be displayed on a user terminal 105. Referring to FIG. 7, the GUI includes a show pane 700 and an auction pane 740. The show pane includes enough space to show multiple orders or requests for liquidity. In FIG. 7, the request for liquidity 710 is shown with respect to a block trade for particular options associated with stock symbol AAPL. Some details of the order 710 are displayed in the show pane. In addition, when the user selects the offer within the show pane, the user is given additional information about the offer in the auction pane 740. Moreover, as is apparent, there may be multiple sub-panes 720 within the auction pane into which the user may place the auction screen associated with the selected offer. The auction screen present the user with an interactive display which provides the user additional information about the auction, including but not limited to the size and price of bids; the size and price of asks, and whether there is a minimum volume. The user is also given an opportunity to enter information for a contra position by entering a quantity and a prices and credit or debit. This information, once entered, may be canceled or submitted to the platform, which then receives the information via messaging between the user terminal and the servers within the platform.
FIG. 8 depicts a more detailed view of an auction screen for an offer for options, associated with the same AAPL securities. As is apparent, additional information is provided on total traded volume, average prices, and details of the trade and size. In addition, the user is given the option to enter additional information including a minimum quantity associated with the offer, and minimum or maximum prices, and a time in force for the offer. The user may also specify an account to use to satisfy the order. Again, the entered information may be submitted or canceled through selection of corresponding buttons within the GUI.
FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative GUI that may be provided to a user who wishes to initiate an offer or request for liquidity according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 9, the user is prompted to provide various information used in formulating an order. A GUI may be constructed to allow easy entry of any information associated with an offer and FIG. 9 is merely illustrative of an approach. The user may enter, for example a strategy, such as a custom (2 legs) order, a tied transaction, a block option trade or any other order reflecting a particular strategy. The strategies may be any types of trading strategies, including exclusive and phantom trades. Pursuant to the exclusive strategy, the initiator is given exclusivity for a period of time. Pursuant to phantom, the initiator's offer is hidden from contras on the platform. The user may further enter an auction type to be carried out by the platform in response to the offer. Any type of auction is contemplated here. One example is a timed auction. The user may further enter a symbol and be shown the current price of the symbol or may search for a symbol.
The user may be presented with multiple options for defining legs of a complex securities transaction. For example, as shown, the user is prompted to enter details with respect to option legs one, two and three of the transaction. The user may be prompted to enter, for example, whether the order is for the buy or sell side, the particular option, for example April 08 80.00 Call and a multiplier. The GUI may also include clear buttons to clear entered information. The user may further be given messages, such as option leg three is not used in a two legged options transaction as shown. Still further, the user may be provided with the option of entering additional information associated with a complex trade, such as whether the user will add stock or other securities transactions to the order. The user will then be prompted for details about this security associated with the offer to trade as well.
The user is also prompted for additional information about the order, including parameters such as the total size of the order, minimum size, price, account and account information associated with the order. The platform may maintain accounts associated with registered users. In addition, the offer may include cancellation parameters that are displayed and entered through the GUI, such as minimum price, maximum prices and time in force. When the user has finished entering information about the offer, the user may initiate or cancel the order by selecting buttons. When the user selects initiate, the offer or request for liquidity is sent to the system through messaging between the user terminal and servers within the platform which causes the platform and the exchange facility to begin an auction procedure to broadcast the offer, receive liquidity and conduct and auction and any necessary negotiation to consummate a transaction, if possible, which is then crossed on an options exchange automatically.
FIG. 10 depicts another GUI corresponding to a negotiation conducted within the platform between at least two users of the platform. The negotiation allows parties to communicate offers to each other until the offers match, and therefore the parties are in agreement with respect to consummating a transaction. The GUI may include, as shown, information about the initiated offer that is the subject of the negotiation and additional windows into which to enter information such as a quantity, price, credit/debit specification and trade or decline information. The GUI further displays any outstanding offer information such as whose turn it is, price and quantity information which the user may agree to by selecting trade. In this manner, parties with in interest in the same security are identified through interaction with the platform and negotiation between such interested parties on the platform is facilitated automatically through user interfaces.
FIG. 11 depicts still another GUI that may be associated with the platform. Referring to FIG. 11, the platform allows users to set up different filters that are used to select which securities the user has an interest in for the purpose of trading and declaring liquidity. The GUI provides several illustrative windows that may be used for this purpose. FIG. 11, which includes a sector filter, index filter, symbol filter, and active sector or index filters allows users a substantial amount of flexibility to inclusively filter individual securities and securities grouped by various criteria. In addition, the user can establish a baseline list and then selected particular filters as active during different time periods.
While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described herein, it will be understood that changes may be made to those embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Moreover, all of the components described herein, particularly the user terminals and other elements of the platform may be implemented as general purpose computer systems with one or more processors, memory, input devices, network interfaces, and output devices such as displays. Moreover, the functionality described as associated with the GUI, workflows and the platform generally may be implemented in software resident on one or more computer systems in memory. In this regard the computer, through its one or more processors, processes the computer program logic, generally computer program instructions comprising the software, to configure the various systems to perform the functionality and exchange the information and messaging described herein.
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Largely unannounced apart from a few mentions on SkyNews but the Sky News website quietly slipped on a new face yesterday and had a total rebrand.
Looks very clear indeed and no doubt some agency somewhere got paid a real wadge by mumbling Web 2.0 a few times.
In all seriousness, it does look very good. I remember some time ago that the BBC ran a competition for a redesign of its site, I wonder when it will be unveiled.


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Interviews and Profiles, Races, Video
Luis Alberto Hernando, 2018 Trail World Champion, Interview
A video interview (with transcript) with Luis Alberto Hernando after his win at the 2018 Trail World Championships.
By Bryon Powell on May 14, 2018 | Leave a reply
Luis Alberto Hernando is three times a champion with his win at the 2018 Trail World Championships in Penyagolosa, Spain. In the following interview, Luis Alberto talks about how his race went, what his most memorable moment was, and where he might be running next.
For more on this year's race, check out our 2018 Trail World Championships results article.
Luis Alberto Hernando, 2018 Trail World Champion, Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Bryon Powell of iRunFar here with Luis Alberto Hernando after his win at the 2018 Trail World Championships. Congratulations!
Luis Alberto Hernando: Thank you very much.
iRunFar: You're now a three-time world champion, you've won here at home in Spain, and your team won in Spain. Is it a dream?
Hernando: Yes, specifically for me, it's a dream come true. We've been looking forward to this race since last year's world championships. It's very special since it's at home. We've been getting ready for it and getting prepared for it, all of the team and especially me. It was a great dream to be here.
iRunFar: You're a machine. You ran the championships last year and two years ago, you ran the same race. You ran your own race. Was that easy?
Hernando: Yeah, I ran with a watch yesterday, so I was running behind and I was looking at the pace and we were 3:35 minutes/kilometer, and that's not even my rhythm of a half marathon on a road. So I was waiting. I had the advantage of coming here four times to train. I gave it two loops completely through the whole course. Also the experience from one year to the other, it made me stand and watch the race and also do my strategy and my own race. I knew the last 20k was the crucial part and things were going to change there. I just waited, and it happened.
iRunFar: Did you run evenly or did you have one push or one pulse where you decided to go?
Hernando: For the first 30k, I didn't have a great day. I had a lot of stomach issues, so I was just thinking of not losing energy. After the second crew aid station at 51k, I gave myself time to recover until the third aid station at 62k. I was trying to stick to that. When I got there, I was really able to be strong and to do the hard push and get all the difference back and go for it.
iRunFar: You passed Zach Miller just before Vistabella. When you passed him, did you know the crown was yours?
Hernando: No, not at all. Zach was one of the strongest or the strongest competitor for me, but I knew it wasn't the last thing. I knew the guys behind me, I had only a gap of six minutes. I knew the last 20k was super difficult and I could lose them right away. So I wasn't sure.
iRunFar: Last year in Italy in the world championships, Cristofer Clemente almost caught you. Were you thinking of him?
Hernando: I knew that Cristofer was one of the five guys I had to be afraid of, and I didn't know who was behind me exactly before the finish line. He's young, he's improving a lot from year to year, but yeah, I didn't know it was exactly him. But I knew he was one of the guys to be afraid of not only yesterday but the races that are coming.
iRunFar: What are the races that are coming?
Hernando: With the world championships in the pocket, it's easier to plan the season. I hadn't the season planned until yesterday, but now it's a bit open and I'm more comfortable planning the season. I really look forward to Zegama [Marathon], but I don't know. Today I'm not really able to decide that when going down the stairs is like, mmmm. You cannot be 99% in Zegama. You have to be 110%. I'm going to think about it. I really want to be there. The years before I've been doing it after Transvulcania, so it would be more or less the same situation.
iRunFar: What was your favorite memory or experience from yesterday?
Hernando: The best memory that pops out right away is the finish line of course, because it was getting there, finishing, the mixed emotions of having a lot of family and friends altogether watching me do this. That was special. Also, during the whole course, being at home meant a lot of friends could be here. There were a lot of friends everywhere screaming and shouting and giving me references with the other racers. I think that's it—being home with friends in a course like this.
iRunFar: Congratuations.
Hernando: Thank you.
Luis Alberto Hernando Pre-2017 Trail World Championships Interview A video interview (with transcript) with Luis Alberto Hernando before the 2017 Trail World Championships in Badia Prataglia, Italy....
Luis Alberto Hernando Pre-2018 Trail World Championships Interview A video interview (with transcript) with Luis Alberto Hernando before the 2018 Trail World Championships....
Luis Alberto Hernando, 2017 Trail World Champion, Interview A video interview (with transcript) with Luis Alberto Hernando after his win at the 2017 Trail World Championships in Badia Prataglia, Italy....
Tagged: Luis Alberto Hernando, Trail World Championships
Bryon Powell is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar. He's been writing about trail running, ultrarunning, and running gear for more than 15 years. Aside from iRunFar, he's authored the books Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and Where the Road Ends: A Guide to Trail Running, been a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, written for publications including Outside, Sierra, and Running Times, and coached ultrarunners of all abilities. Based in Silverton, Colorado, Bryon is an avid trail runner and ultrarunner who competes in events from the Hardrock 100 Mile just out his front door to races long and short around the world, that is, when he's not fly fishing or tending to his garden.
View all posts by Bryon Powell


Scott Disick is said to be dating a Swedish model, following last year's split from Kourtney Kardashian.
The reality star is reported to have gone on a series of dates with Lina Sandberg in Los Angeles.
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Lina is from the Swedish city of Malmo but based out of Los Angeles.
According to her Instagram page she is represented by the prestigious modelling agency Wilhelmina.
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On Sunday night's edition of Keeping Up With The Kardashians Disick was seen admitting that he felt suicidal following his break up with Kourtney.
'If I didn't have those kids I would kill myself,' Scott sobbed, during a family meeting with his ex and her famous sisters.
Disick, who has publicly struggled with his drinking on KUWTK, admitted himself to rehab following his relationship breakdown.
Spotted on a family movie date with Scott Disick, Kourtney Kardashian kept things simple in a pared back ensemble.
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