WO2001084347A1

WO2001084347A1 - System and method to securitize personal opinion

Info

Publication number: WO2001084347A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/022462
Authority: WO
Inventors: Arthur Wing-Hong Lai
Original assignee: Lai Arthur Wing Hong
Priority date: 2000-05-01
Filing date: 2000-08-16
Publication date: 2001-11-08
Also published as: AU2000267772A1

Abstract

The invention is a system and method to securitize personal opinion. Over the Internet or local area network, participants also called market firms, users, members, players and traders engage in the trade of ICUs. (101) An ICU is an intangible commodity unit purchasable with a virtual game currency called a xuxu. Players can take long and short positions (105) to express their opinions. Players can also buy or sell a multiplicity of ICUs to show the strength of their opinion. Securitization of personal opinion (SOPO) can be used for market research, political polling, determining social trends, fashion trends and popular culture. Players are rewarded for their xuxus either with money, prizes or fame recognition (110).

Description

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

SYSTEM AND METHOD TO SECURITIZE PERSONAL OPINION

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

No related applications were found in prior art.

BACKGROUND

Personal opinion is a very subjective and difficult thing to measure. Current methods of determining consumer or voter opinions and preferences rely on polls and interviews of consumers and voters. Personal opinion is difficult to obtain due to the difficulty of collecting it. Motivating consumers and voters to give an accurate response is difficult and expensive.

In a marketplace, firms take the initiative to make profits. Stock markets such as NASDAQ and futures markets collect millions of firm opinions in the form of buy and sell orders. These opinions are aggregated to create market prices.

The Keynes Classical macro-economic model allows firms in a market to collectively determine the balance of demand & supply. An 'invisible hand' drives the market to equilibrium at prevailing market prices. The Keynes Classical macro-economic model makes several assumptions such as: (1) a large market size with many sellers and buyers, (2) trading commodity items of homogenous quality, (3) frictionless and open market information, (4) individual firms lack market power to significantly effect market prices.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a system and method to securitize personal opinion. Over the Internet or local area network, participants also called market firms, users, members, players and traders engage in the trade of ICUs. An ICU is an intangible commodity unit purchasable with a virtual game currency called a xuxu. Players can take long and short positions to express their opinions. Players can also buy or sell a multiplicity of ICUs to show the strength of their opinion. Securitization of personal opinion (SOPO) can be used for market research, political polling, determining social trends, fashion trends and popular culture. Players are rewarded for their xuxus either with money, prizes or fame recognition. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A detailed description of the embodiments of the invention will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals designate corresponding parts in figures.

Figure 1 is a flow chart of the SOPO model for implementation on the Internet

Figure 2 is chart to compare a traditional stock market with the SOPO model

Figure 3 is a user record shown in the form of a table

Figure 4 is a table showing portfolio details of an individual user (after a day-end closing)

Figure 5 is a user's trade history shown in the form of a table

Figure 6 is a traded items record shown in the form of a table

Figure 7 is an operation flow chart

Figure 8 is a real time market reports table

Figure 9 is a table showing the checking of the latest market prices

Figure 10 is a table showing the data entered for a transaction request

Figure 1 1 is a table showing the data for order confirmation request

Figure 12 is a table showing the trading cue

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

I. Introduction

The goal of collecting marketing data is to get perfect information. The present invention is a system and method to securitize personal opinion. Securitization of personal opinion (SOPO) should promote polling participation, and create a perfect market for quantifying and aggregating personal opinions towards comparable items. Intangible values are very subjective and can be expressed as degree of admiration, satisfaction, quality, or perceived market value.

The present SOPO invention is an application of the Keynes model to create a nearly perfect market on the Internet for intangible commodities such as personal opinions

The SOPO system is created by:

1. creating a virtual Exchange market place (people, products, forum, system)

2. defining intangible commodity units (ICU's) that can be traded

3. defining a currency unit known as the 'xuxu' (pronounced 'ZOO'-'ZOO')

4. encouraging participants to maximize the total xuxu value in their portfolio by exercising their judgment and expressing their personal opinions by buying and selling ICU's with other participants

5. producing useful market reports and facilitate information flows among participants

What means exist to motivate market participants?

The Exchange can pay the participants a real currency such as United States Dollars. Paying participants money is a proven means to motivate people. A "xuxu' is a virtual currency cyberspace trading. The Exchange can:

1. Distribute a percentage of its income with its members according to the amount of xuxu each member owns

2. Give bonuses to members with high xuxu accounts

3. Allow members to trade in xuxus for cash or use xuxus to buy things at a xuxu store

4. Honor shrewd xuxu investors with recognition in a xuxu newsletter

5. Offer members with high xuxu accounts affinity promotional programs such as

Discount rental cars, hotel accommodations and travel packages

Long distance phone services, discounted Internet services, cellular phone plans

Thus, xuxus have real economic value. The xuxu can be like other currencies having floating exchange rates with real world currencies.

Participation

The market participants are sometimes called players to show that xuxu.com, the preferred site for implementation, is like a game in the same way that the stock market is like a game. The market participants are sometimes called users because they will be users of a service. They will also sometimes be called members to show their membership status as separate from mere visitors of the web site. They can also be called firms to highlight the macro- economic role they play in the market. In order to accumulate xuxus, members buy and sell ICU's. An ICU could represent an intangible thing such as how much a member likes a particular music band or political figure. The resulting model has a wide scope of applications, ranging from web site search-engine, market research, public opinion polling, pricing of time-sensitive perishable products, etc.

An overview of the SOPO model implementation on the Internet is given in Figure 1. First, 101, the ICUs are defined. Having an ICU quantifies the intangible commodity such as an opinion and allows a firm to buy into one or more opinions going long or short. The amount purchased also allows the firm to cast more than one vote and provide a weighted opinion. The second step is to list the xuxu index. 102 The xuxu index is another way to say nominal market value. Here it is used interchangeably with the words 'xuxu ICU price index' or more casually the 'ICU price'. The technical implementation will explain the precise definition of the 'xuxu index'.

Users are then allowed to long 103 or short 104 the ICUs. Then, similar to the securities exchange, the computer system will match the long and short requests 105. The xuxu index fluctuates 106 according to trading. Some players prosper 107 and others lose. The prosperity is measured in xuxu. 108 Thus, the SOPO model can 'securitize^' personal opinions and in the process generate real values for the participants individually and collectively. 109 Systems keep track of the balance of each xuxu account and reward participants regularly 1 10.

Dual Implementations

The SOPO model can be implemented like a stock market or a futures market. In the stock market implementation the Exchange issues a limited amount of ICU's which can then be bought and sold, with members taking long or short positions. Other securities aspects can be borrowed such as an options market, mutual fund investment programs and more.

The preferred method and best mode of the invention is implementation as a futures market. Here, an ICU is created when a member buys into a long position. The same member must later close his long position, which eliminates the ICU.

Some differences between a real world stock market and the SOPO preferred implementation are given as a chart in Fig. 2. Most notably, the SOPO invention allows quantification of otherwise subjective opinions. Also, the transaction cost can be zero for the SOPO model using xuxus.

II. Specific Applications

The four possible Applications for the SOPO invention are:

• Application 1 Search-engine quantifying the relative quality of web sites

• Application 2 Market research of global brands

• Application 3 Polling of popular items, such as movies, music and celebrities

• Application 4 Pricing of perishable items, such as air ticket and cargo space

Application #1 Search-engine quantifying the relative quality of web sites

Currently relative quality is expressed as statistics such as number of visitors, page views, hit rates, etc. High traffic, however is not always proportional to quality. On the other hand, various institutions release their own rankings, such as "Top 100 web site" and "Best Sites 101". These rankings fail because they are based on the personal opinions of individual critics and lack consensus.

The SOPO Model can aggregate the personal opinions of all participants to probe the global consensus. The dynamic trading transactions empower the individuals to exercise their influence on the market. For example, an index of admiration of websites can be compiled to allow users to bid on ICU's of different websites. A website with a high ICU price is popular, while a website with a low ICU price will be less popular.

ICU price rankings of Web Sites (ICU = = "How much do you admire the Website?")

YAHOO Nominal 290 (LONG) Bid 289 (SHORT) Ask 290

AMAZON Nominal 250 (LONG) Bid 250 (SHORT) Ask 252

LYCOS Nominal 223 (LONG) Bid 220 (SHORT) Ask 223

The top web sites (the ones with the highest ICU prices) can be easily sorted to generate useful reports. The top web sites lists can encompass the following, for example:

• Top 100 websites globally (by ranking ICU prices for all websites)

• Top 100 websites in the Chinese language (by ranking the ICU prices of Chinese websites)

• Top 100 websites that USA participants think are under-valued in the xuxu market (by ranking the total LONG xuxu positions held by USA participants)

• Top 100 websites that participants under the age of 30 feel are over-valued in the xuxu market (by ranking the total SHORT xuxu positions held by participants under 30)

• Top 100 rising star websites (by ranking the growth rates of xuxu prices of websites)

The rankings can then be generated with hyper-links to the respective websites. Users will be able to easily find, for instance, the most admired website created by their home country, or the rising stars of new websites. Here, the SOPO invention provides an alternative, user- driven website search and ranking engine. Application #2 Market research of global brands

The consumer market is becoming more global. Global brands are those brands that compete in several countries. It is often difficult and costly to measure the fast changing consumer tastes that vary across countries.

The SOPO model offers a highly effective solution to this challenge. One need only look at the ICU price rankings for various brands to determine their relative popularity. The ICUs essentially become units of "fashionability" which can be purchased and sold. Take the apparel industry for example: -

Xuxu ICU Price Ranking (Xuxu index) of Apparel Brands (ICU = "How fashionable is the brand?")

Giorgio Armani Nominal 68 (LONG) Bid 67 (SHORT) Ask 68 Benetton Nominal 48 (LONG) Bid 48 (SHORT) Ask 50 Gap Nominal 39 (LONG) Bid 36 (SHORT) Ask 39

Analyzing the demographics of the transactions and sorting the results in different manners can produce useful market survey reports. For example:

• Top 10 fashion brands globally (by ranking the xuxu ICU price index of all fashion brands)

• Top 10 Italian brands (by ranking the xuxu ICU price index of brands classified as Italian)

• Top 10 brands that USA participants think are under-valued (by ranking the total LONG positions held by USA participants)

• Top 10 brands that participants under the age of 30 feel are over-valued (by ranking the total SHORT positions held by participants under 30)

• Top 10 rising and Top 10 falling brands (by ranking the growth rates of xuxu ICU price index of all brands)

Thus, the SOPO invention rankings are a useful source of market trend information. The invention can generated is real time, dynamic, and aggregated personal opinions of participants worldwide. Also, the information can be demographically analyzed.

Application #3 Polling of popular items, such as movies and celebrities

Every country has a music award. Some selection criteria are based on sales volume. Some are simply based on 'expert' opinions. Some are based on survey or polling to a limited population. These traditional ranking methods have severe limitations in that they do not reflect the real time fluctuation of popularity and the votes do not allow for a weighting scheme.

The SOPO invention offers new dimensions to the traditional polling methods. Individuals can voice opinions by dynamically managing a portfolio of votes, not only a single vote. Also, people can weight their votes to express not only that they like something, but also how much they like it relative to other comparable things. By tracking the transactions and demographic statistics of the participants, the Exchange can measure how diverse public opinions are.

For example, if the traded ICU commodity were "How much do you like the Pop Star?" an ICU xuxu price index (Xuxu index) would tell us how hip the pop singers really are.

Xuxu ICU Price Index (Xuxu index) of Pop Singers (How much do you like the Pop Star?):

Madonna Nominal 160 (LONG) Bid 159 (SHORT) Ask 160 Michael Jackson Nominal 140 (LONG) Bid 140 (SHORT) Ask 142 Sting Nominal 125 (LONG) Bid 125 (SHORT) Ask 130

Again, analyzing the transactions and sorting the results can produce useful reports. For example:

• Top 10 singers globally (by ranking the xuxu ICU price index of all singers)

• Top 10 singers that Japanese fans feel are 'under-valued' by the world (by ranking the total LONG positions held by Japanese participants)

• Top 10 singers that fans under the age of 20 feel are over-valued (by ranking the total SHORT positions held by participants under 20)

• Top 10 rising and Top 10 falling singers (by ranking the growth rates of xuxu ICU price index of all singers)

Application #4 Pricing of perishable items, such as air ticket and cargo space

Perhaps the most valuable information the SOPO invention can offer is a determination of perishable items such as air cargo space. Cargo rates for shipping general goods normally depend on the following:

• Departure and arrival locations

• Departure and arrival date and time

• Seasonality: balance of demand and supply

It is often difficult for airlines to determine the optimal market rates for future dates.

The SOPO invention offers an effective mechanism to aggregate individual participants' opinions to determine the market value. Here, a traded ICU commodity could be air cargo rates formatted in a 'Origin-Destination Date" matrix such as in the example below.

Collection and aggregation of firm participant opinions in a virtual trading market allow the SOPO invention to collect valuable information. The SOPO model is especially well adapted to price perishable items such as air tickets, cargo space, hotel rooms, car rentals, equipment rentals, travel accommodations, perishable foods, flora, event tickets, popular music, fad clothes, seasonal silk designs. Marketing firms and companies can use the market data to determine proper competitive selling, pricing and marketing of these perishable goods and services. In the example below, air cargo space is traded. LAX-HKG 15 JAN

Specification:

Departure location Los Angeles LAX Airport

Arrival location Hong Kong HKG Airport

Departure date/time: 15JAN2000, no earlier than 12:00 noon

Arrival date/time: 17JAN2000, no later than 12:00 noon

Trading lot size: 100kg per lot

Xuxu ICU Price Index of Air Cargo Rates:

LAX-HKG 15 JAN Nominal $3.0 (LONG) Bid 3.0 (SHORT) Ask 3.1 LAX-HKG 16JAN Nominal $3.2 (LONG) Bid 3.1 (SHORT) Ask 3.2

NYC-SFO 15 JAN Nominal $0.9 (LONG) Bid 0.8 (SHORT) Ask 0.9 NYC-SFO 16JAN Nominal $1.1 (LONG) Bid 1.1 (SHORT) Ask 1.2

Market participants will trade the SHORT/LONG contracts according to their perspective of the demand & supply situation. Said trading activities will have a cut-off time of, for example, 3 days before departure date. When the cut-off time is approaching, those participants in LONG positions will likely be the consumers of cargo space, such as shippers and cargo agents; those in SHORT positions will likely be the cargo space suppliers, such as airlines and cargo consolidators. The host Exchange will act as a clearinghouse to facilitate the follow up transactions.

Thus, the SOPO invention becomes a new tool for airlines and agents in pricing, sales and distribution of air transportation products.

III. Technical Implementation A. Databases

1. User record

The user record is one of the databases necessary for the technical implementation of SOPO invention. Each user will have a unique user account, identified by a user name and password, also storing the personal information such as mailing address. Each account keeps track of the accumulated funds and portfolio of asset bought or sold. A typical user record could be implemented as shown in Fig. 3.

2. Portfolio Details of an individual user (after a day-end closing)

Portfolio Details of an individual user after a day-end closing must be stored in a database. A typical portfolio would be similar to the one shown in Fig. 4 and would include details about items traded that day. Here, an item number or ICU number 401 identifies the ICU's traded. The item may also have a code 402 similar to a ticker symbol. The net position 403, quantity 404, latest nominal price 405, face value 406, margin percentage 407 and xuxu totals 408 are also recorded.

3. Trade History / Order Status of an individual user (by day, week, month) The exchange can compile a user trade history from the Portfolio Details after a day-end closing. A trade history would be similar to the one shown in Fig. 5 and would include details about items traded. The following database fields would be collected. Item no. 501. hem code 502, Position 503 Quantity 504, Transaction date 505, Transaction time (UTC) 506, Transaction price Status 507, Status 508. The Trade history is used to compile other databases of useful information. 4. Traded Item Record

The exchange can also compile a traded item record from the user trade history or the day-end closing database. A traded item record would be similar to the one shown in Fig. 6 and would include details about items traded such as item type 601. item number 602, item code 603, item name 604, city or origin 605, country of origin 606 and key word strings for classification and storing of the traded item record 607.

B. Operation Flowchart

The operation flowchart describes the operation flow as shown in Fig. 7. This is a more specific flowchart than Fig. 1, and shows the preferred means to calculate and process the trades. In Fig. 7. the flowchart begins with listing the nominal prices on tables to get the attention of firms and traders 70L Users then take long or short positions 702. The system matches the long and short positions 703. Then the computer system automatically processes the user's information based on the position taken 704. Again, some players prosper and some do not 705.

A day end closing 706 recalculates the position of the user so that in tax language the day's gains and losses are 'realized'. The system then performs administrative tasks such as margin calls and sending emails 707.

C. Detailed Operation Flow

1. Real Time Market Reports

Real time market reports are shown in Fig. 8. The Exchange will provide reports on the prices of the items being traded. The fields mean:

801 Ranking: in terms of Nominal price within the category of items chosen

802 Item No.: a sequence number assigned by the Exchange to the Item traded

803 Code: a short form to name the Item similar to a ticker symbol

804 Name: the full name of the Item

805 Nominal: the latest transaction price (market value)

806 Bid: the highest Bid price in queue

807 Ask: the lowest Ask price in queue

808 Day High: the highest transaction price during the day

809 Day Low: the lowest transaction price during the day

There are a number of query options for users to compare the relative rankings of items of interest. For example:

• Top 10 items in terms of nominal price

• Top 20 items of Classification: 'Internet'

• Top 50 items of Country of Origin: 'USA' • Etc.

2. Market analysis and user feedback

Charts will also be run to show the market trends of each item within various time periods: 24 hours. 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year. Discussion forums will be searchable by Item Number or Item Code, to facilitate users and analysts to exchange market info and trading ideas.

3. Check the latest market prices

If a user checks the quotes of one or more items, system will retrieve from the database and display (maximum 5 items at a time) Fig. 9. The data can be shown in the form of the table in Fig. 9. The data definitions in Fig. 9 are the same as that in Fig. 8.

4. Input a transaction order request

A user can buy (LONG) and sell (SHORT) any items by inputting a transaction request online. The preferred embodiment limits the items to a maximum of 5 items per request. The necessary transaction order request data is shown in Fig.

10.

The fields are defined as follows:

1001 Item No.: a sequence number assigned by the Exchange to the Item traded

1002 Item Code: a short form to name the Item

1003 LONG (buy): click if it is a LONG request

1004 SHORT (sell): click if it is a SHORT request

1005 Price: order request price

1006 Quantity: number of units requested

The system then reconciles the request and asks for confirmation as shown in the table featured in Fig. 11. Note that the tables shown represent the data posted or collected and are not indicative of a minimalist graphic design scheme. The implemented interface will hopefully be more dazzling than the simple charts and tables shown in this patent application.

5. Joining the trading queue according to offered prices

If the user confirms the requests, the system then processes them. Depending on the offered price, the system automatically puts the new request on the trading queue of each Item. The following example shows the latest trading queue of Item XYZ Fig 12.

The Bid (LONG) Prices are in Descending order 1203, Ask (SHORT) Prices are in Ascending order 1204. If a buyer offers a Bid Price of 36.0, he will be the top bidder and jump to the top of the queue. Similar if a seller offers a price lower than 36.0, he will be at the top of the selling side.

6. Automatic Matching System (AMS) for the LONG/SHORT requests

The system matches the prices and quantities requested on both sides.

If the highest Bid price is actually above the lowest Ask price, the transaction price is the Ask price. Thus, a player will not 'over-pay' unnecessarily. If a player wants to jump the buy queue, she can offer a higher Bid price to match all those selling requests in the queue.

Since each request may have a different quantity, the system will automatically deduct the matched prices and quantities to clear the queue.

The principles of the Automatic Matching System are:

• Lowest Asker always gets to sell first

• Highest Bidder gets to buy first

• If more than a user offering the same price, then the sequence on the queue is first-come-first-served.

• Whenever a Bid price is equal to or above an Ask price, a transaction is made at the Ask price

• The quantities of the LONG request and SHORT request normally do not exactly match. Remaining inventories will carry over in the queue for the next match.

7. Check Order Status and change the request if necessary

Each transaction request may have the following status:

• Open: is received and acknowledged by system and is open and active on queue

• Done: is successfully completed

• Partially done: is partially completed

• Cancelled: is cancelled by user voluntarily; or by system at day-end if the request is still incomplete

• Rejected: is somehow rejected, maybe because of insufficient cash in user account or system failure

A user can "Modify^" or 'Cancel' an 'Open' request and submit. However, in case the transaction is done before the signal is received, the request cannot be changed.

8. 'Mark to Market' adjustment

'Mark to Market' means to calculate and settle a position's economic value using the latest nominal market price using the general formulae:

Value of a LONG position = (Nominal price - transaction price) x quantity Value of a SHORT position = minus (Nominal price - transaction price) x quantity

For each Item in a user's portfolio, the 'Mark to Market' task is performed:

• when a new transaction is done on an Item already existing in a portfolio (such as closing a LONG position with a SHORT or vice versa)

• at a day-end closing (every 24 hours)

When a new transaction is successfully done on an Item already existing on portfolio, then the system will calculate the NET position on this Item, using the new nominal price (which of course, by definition, is exactly the price of the new transaction) as the reference point. At the same time, any cash gains or losses of the previous position will be settled, also the required transaction deposit will be updated.

It is illustrated in the following example:

(Assume no position on MSN.com was held prior to this trade day's start):

Time Transaction Item Q y Price 13:00 SHORT MSN 200 270

14:00 LONG MSN 100 250

- At this moment, the two positions will be consolidated to one single NET SHORT position of quantity 100 units at the latest transaction price 250. Plus the cash gained from the first SHORT transaction done at time 13:00 as the market price has dropped from 270 to 250.

Cash gain = (270 - 250) x 200 units = 4,000 (credit to 'cash available')

NET Position = SHORT MSN Qty 100 Price 250

- Also, the margin deposits required is adjusted for this new NET position. It will involve crediting or debiting the two accounts 'Transaction Deposits^' and 'Cash Available' depending on the price and quantity of the new NET position. In simple terms, the old deposit value will be replaced by the new deposit value.

15:00 SHORT MSN 100 260 - At this moment, again, a new NET position is calculated using the new price 260.

--> Cash gain = (250 - 260) x 100 units = - 1,000 (debit to "cash available^")

-» NET Position = SHORT MSN Qty 200 Price 260

-- Also, the margin deposits required is adjusted for this new NET position. It will involve crediting or debiting the two accounts 'Transaction Deposits' and 'Cash Available' depending on the price and quantity of the new NET position. In simple terms, the old deposit value will be replaced by the new deposit value.

23:00 Day End Closing

- No matter the user has or has not traded an Item (e.g. MSN in this case) on her portfolio, the system will automatically trigger a day- close "Mark to Market" across the board to process all items on all users^' portfolios, marked to the day-close nominal prices.

- Any cash gains/losses will be calculated and reflected in the cash account.

For example, if the user holds a net SHORT position of Qty 200 at Price 260, and if the day-close price is 240, then cash gain = - (240 - 260) x 200 = + 4,000.

--> Also, the margin deposits required are adjusted for this new NET position. It will involve crediting or debiting the two accounts 'Transaction Deposits' and 'Cash Available' depending on the price and quantity of the new NET position. In simple terms, the old deposit value will be replaced by the new deposit value.

9. Update the total Portfolio Value

At any point in time a portfolio's total value has 4 components:

1. Values of all LONG positions

2. Values of all SHORT positions

3. Transaction Deposits (held up for the positions)

4. Cash Available

After the Day-end Closing 'Mark to Market', the values of components 1 and 2 are neutralized to zero, the portfolio value is then the sum of components 3 and 4, namely cash being held up in the transaction deposits and cash readily available. This total value is reported to users every day-end. 0. Margin for Transaction Deposit (pre-defined parameters)

Margin requirements will vary according to the risk involved. Some risk items carry a higher risk and thus do not justify a high margin.

If a member's account runs low on xuxus necessary to fulfill the margin requirement they will receive a margin call. They can then deposit more xuxus or close some positions to reduce risk exposure.

Claims

1. A futures model system to securitize personal opinion comprising: a. a database on a digital computer housing the following records: i. player records, ii. player portfolio record, iii. player trade history record, iv. player traded items record, v. ICU price index ranking records, vi. ICU nominal price records. b. at least one intangible commodity item, c. means to create one or more intangible commodity units corresponding to said at least one intangible commodity item, d. virtual game currency to allow player trading of said one or more intangible commodity units, e. means to trade said virtual game currency for said one or more multiple intangible commodity units, wherein a short or long transaction request creates said multiple intangible commodity units, f. means to compile and generate market data from records housed on said database on a digital computer, g. means to reward players according to their amount of virtual game currency.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein said means to trade said virtual game currency for said multiple intangible commodity units further comprises a trading cue matching the highest buying offer price with the lowest selling offer price according to the following principles: a. lowest asker always gets to sell first, b. highest bidder gets to buy first, c. when a plurality of players offer the same price, transactions are executed on a first- come-first-served basis, d. when a bid price is equal to or above an ask price, transactions are made at ask price, e. when quantities of long and short requests do not exactly match, remaining quantities carry over in the queue for the next match.

3. The invention of claim 2. further comprising a means show the latest market prices, further comprising a means to show the latest market reports, wherein element (a), a database on a digital computer, further includes: vii. records showing the latest market prices viii. records of market reports.

4. The invention of claim 3, further comprising a mark to market adjustment means, wherein element (a), a database on a digital computer, further includes: ix. Portfolio details of an individual user after day end closing records

5. The invention of claim 4, further comprising a means to transact trades with virtual game currency on margin, further comprising a means to detect a need to send a player a margin call, and further comprising an email means to send a player a margin call, wherein element (a), a database on a digital computer, further includes: x. records showing player margins, xi. records of player email addresses used to receive margin calls.

6. A stock model system to securitize personal opinion comprising: a. a database on a digital computer having the following records: i. player records, ii. player portfolio record, iii. player trade history record, iv. player traded items record, v. ICU price index ranking records, vi. ICU nominal price records. b. at least one intangible commodity item, c. means to create multiple intangible commodity units corresponding to said at least one intangible commodity item, d. virtual game currency to allow player trading of said multiple intangible commodity units, e. means to trade said virtual game currency for said multiple intangible commodity units, wherein the Exchange issues a finite number of said multiple intangible commodity units corresponding to said at least one intangible commodity item, f. means to compile and generate market data from records housed on said database on a digital computer, g. means to reward players according to their amount of virtual game currency.

7. The invention of claim 6, wherein said means to trade said virtual game currency for said multiple intangible commodity units further comprises a trading cue matching the highest buying offer price with the lowest selling offer price according to the following principles: a. lowest asker always gets to sell first, b. highest bidder gets to buy first, c. when a plurality of players offer the same price, transactions are executed on a first- come-first-served basis, d. when a bid price is equal to or above an ask price, transactions are made at ask price, e. when quantities of long and short requests do not exactly match, remaining quantities carry over in the queue for the next match.

8. The invention of claim 7, further comprising a means show the latest market prices, further comprising a means to show the latest market reports, wherein element (a), a database on a digital computer, further includes: vii. records showing the latest market prices, viii. records of market reports.

9. The invention of claim 8, further comprising a mark to market adjustment means, wherein element (a), a database on a digital computer, further includes: ix. Portfolio details of an individual user after day end closing records.

10. The invention of claim 9, further comprising a means to transact trades with virtual game currency on margin, further comprising a means to detect a need to send a player a margin call, and further comprising an email means to send a player a margin call, wherein element (h), a database on a digital computer, further includes: x. records showing player margins, xi. records of player email addresses used to receive margin calls.

1 1. A futures model method to securitize personal opinion comprising the steps of: a. creating and maintaining a database on a digital computer housing the following records: i. player records, ii. player portfolio record. iii. player trade history record, iv. player traded items record, v. ICU price index ranking records, vi. ICU nominal price records. b. defining at least one intangible commodity item, c. creating multiple intangible commodity units corresponding to said at least one intangible commodity item. d. issuing virtual game currency to allow players to trade said multiple intangible commodity units, e. allowing players to trade said virtual game currency for said multiple intangible commodity units, wherein a short or long transaction request creates said multiple intangible commodity units. f. generating market data from records housed on said database on a digital computer, g. rewarding players according to their amount of virtual game currency.

12. The invention of claim 11, further comprising the step of trading said virtual game currency for said multiple intangible commodity units, further comprising the step of establishing a trading cue matching the highest buying offer price with the lowest selling offer price according to the following principles:

A. lowest asker always gets to sell first,

B. highest bidder gets to buy first,

C. when a plurality of players offer the same price, transactions are executed on a first- come-first-served basis,

D. when a bid price is equal to or above an ask price, transactions are made at ask price,

E. when quantities of long and short requests do not exactly match, remaining quantities carry over in the queue for the next match.

13. The invention of claim 12, further comprising the step of showing the latest market prices, further comprising the step of showing the latest market reports, wherein step (a), creating and maintaining a database on a digital computer, further includes: vii. records showing the latest market prices, viii. records of market reports.

14. The invention of claim 13. further comprising the step of mark to market adjustment, wherein step (o), creating and maintaining a database on a digital computer, further includes: ix. Portfolio details of an individual user after day end closing records.

15. The invention of claim 14, further comprising the step of transacting trades with virtual game currency on margin, further comprising the step of detecting a need to send a player a margin call, and further comprising the step of emailing an margin call to a player, wherein step (a), creating and maintaining a database on a digital computer, further includes: x. records showing player margins, xi. records of player email addresses used to receive margin calls.

16. The invention of claim 1 1, wherein step (e) allows creation of said multiple intangible commodity units by the Exchange, whereby the Exchange creates a stock model implementation of SOPO by issuing a finite number of said multiple intangible commodity units corresponding to said at least one intangible commodity item.

17. The invention of claim 16, further comprising the step of trading said virtual game currency for said multiple intangible commodity units, further comprising the step of establishing a trading cue matching the highest buying offer price with the lowest selling offer price according to the following principles:

A. lowest asker always gets to sell first,

B. highest bidder gets to buy first,

C. when a plurality of players offer the same price, transactions are executed on a first - come-first-served basis,

18. The invention of claim 17, further comprising the step of showing the latest market prices, further comprising the step of showing the latest market reports, wherein step (a), creating and maintaining a database on a digital computer, further includes: i. records showing the latest market prices, ii. records of market reports.

19. The invention of claim 18, further comprising the step of mark to market adjustment, wherein step (o), creating and maintaining a database on a digital computer, further includes: iii. Portfolio details of an individual user after day end closing records.

20. The invention of claim 19, further comprising the step of transacting trades with virtual game currency on margin, further comprising the step of detecting a need to send a player a margin call, and further comprising the step of emailing an margin call to a player, wherein step (a), creating and maintaining a database on a digital computer, further includes: iv. records showing player margins, v. records of player email addresses used to receive margin calls.