Cantor Fitzgerald, the US broker, has launched a stock exchange software tool that allows companies to set up their own online trading facilities.

The software aims to take advantage on the growing popularity of exchanges that allow people to buy and sell units in sports stars, celebrities, politicians or films.

Such exchanges prove remarkably accurate when forecasting future events. For example, the Hollywood Stock Exchange, which was originally developed using Cantor Fitzgerald's Virtual Specialist technology, predicted all the winners at the 2005 Academy Awards.

Traders using the Hollywood Stock Exchange also came within one per cent of correctly predicting the opening weekend box-office take of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

"Virtual Specialist is a powerful media tool that can enhance all sorts of events and programming," said Lee Amaitis, chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald. "The predictive market is truly a 'killer application' that can be easily applied to numerous niches to create engaging applications."

Potential applications for Virtual Specialist could include exchanges based on sports leagues such as the English Premiership, soap operas, reality TV programmes and the music industry.