Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has acquired intellectual property rights in the US, relating to automated trading strategies that make price and trading decisions based on market price information.
Speaking on ICE’s Q2 earnings call, CEO Jeffrey Sprecher said the patents would allow the exchange group to more broadly protect its customers.
He added that ICE is also currently developing its own licensing plan.
The intellectual property rights cover multiple asset classes traded electronically on exchanges, including futures, options and cash equities.
“We believe these intellectual property rights cover important aspects of transacting in today’s markets,” said Intercontinental Exchange chief strategy officer David Goone.
“ICE acquired these patents with the goal of preventing third parties from using these intellectual property rights against our customers. ICE intends to make these patents available broadly for license to customers that provide beneficial liquidity in ICE’s and NYSE’s markets.”
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.