Extended Offering for the Nordics

EEX is now offering zonal futures for all Nordic bidding zones, a proven and successful market model in all other 20 European power derivatives markets, in addition to its existing suite of System Price futures.

EPEX’s trusted, NEMO-harmonised indices form the underlying references for the new products.

EEX is confident that overall liquidity in the Nordics can be improved by adding zonal futures. The proven benefits of zonal futures at EEX:

• More efficient management of risk and collateral;
• A wider pool of market participants;
• Enhanced trading opportunities; and
• Improved price transparency.

Nordic participants can also hedge using the existing Nordic System Price products offered by EEX.

EEX is committed to working together with the Nordic trading community and its existing customers to facilitate the adoption of the new zonal futures and ultimately build more liquidity in the Nordic region.

Zonal Futures Product Scope

EEX lists zonal base load futures for all 12 Nordic bidding zones. The scope of available maturities varies depending on specific factors, such as the presence of interconnectors with continental markets, the prevalence of renewable energy capacity, and existing liquidity.

The product codes and contract details file can be found here.

Location Spread Trading

EEX is also offering location spread trading along with the new zonal futures, as is standard with all of its power products. This is seen as a key measure to increase overall liquidity in the Nordic region, as it grants EEX’s network of pan-European traders access to the market and facilitates the execution of geographic trading strategies. 

Location spread trading enables trading participants to efficiently trade the price differences between these delivery areas with guaranteed execution. Location spread trading will be offered:

• Between Nordic zonal futures
• Between Nordic zonal and System Price futures
• Between EEX continental power products and Nordic zonal and System Price futures

For the full set of location spread trading possibilities, please refer to the Nordic Zonal Futures presentation linked below.

Nordic System Price

EEX maintains its existing System Price Futures as below:

EEX Nordic Power Futures

Future-to-Spot Service

EEX, in cooperation with EPEX SPOT, will offer Future-to-Spot Service for week and month futures for all 12 Nordic Bidding Zones from October 2024. For more information on the Future-to-Spot Service, please see here.

Margin Requirements

Positions in all EEX Power Derivatives, including Nordic Zonal Futures are subject to ECC initial margin requirements. ECC will calculate the margin rates on each ECC Business day according to ECC’s standard margin methodology. Intercommodity credits will apply for correlated opposing positions, reducing the overall margin requirement for portfolios. To find the current initial margin values and intercommodity credits, visit the ECC website here.

If you need assistance with margin, as part of EEX Group, Lacima helps energy market participants better manage margins and risk across complex energy and commodities portfolios. Lacima’s solution can help estimate your initial end of day margin call, assess how it may change based on current market price movements, simulate the impact of potential trades on margin, assess cross margining opportunities and understand key margin drivers. For more information, visit the Lacima website.