An improved algorithm for multi-way trading for exchange and barter

Most e-commerce exchange systems today facilitate a single simple transaction. Systems allow the trade of an object or resource for exactly one other object or resource. The trade could also be for some quantity of one object or resource for another, but usually all of the objects traded are of a kind, for example, trading 10 iPods. The common type of exchange involves money for an object. There are other kinds of exchanges though. These include barter exchanges in which an object is traded for another object. In this scenario there is a space of available objects and a space of desired objects. When an available object matches a desired object a trade can be made. Usually this type of trade is bi-directional. One trader has an item that a second trader wants and the second trader has the item that the first trader wants. This trade is a simple two-party trade. Another kind of trade involves multi-way trade in which multiple parties are involved, along with an intermediary. Multi-way trading is the process of constructing a trade that involves two original or initial traders but also has intermediary traders to facilitate the original trade. This research presents an algorithm for supporting multi-way trades. It describes a graph data structure and then searches the graph for paths to effect the trade. The algorithm also identifies a sequence of trades through at least one intermediate trader that will complete the trades of the two original traders. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.