Various embodiments show a system for conducting an auction for a plurality of financially settled contracts: The system may comprise at least one processor. The at least one processor may be programmed to receive a plurality of first participant bids from a first participant and a plurality of second participant bids from a second participant. The at least one processor may also be programmed to match a batch of bids, where the bids may be linear combinations, to create a plurality of awarded bids that may maximize an economic surplus or maximize a volume of awarded bids. Degenerate price solutions may be solved by minimizing variations from historic pricing levels for a contract. The contracts may include, for example, an oil contract, a coal contract, a natural gas contract, an electricity contract, a weather contract, a weather-related events contract, a commodities contract, a location specific service contract (e.g., passenger contract and/or freight contracts), a financial derivative contract or credit default contract on any of an entity's issued securities.