In an effort to expand its current list of more than 870 participant firms, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) said Wednesday that it has teamed with Trading Technologies International Inc. (TT) to provide access to ICE’s global energy markets via TT’s X_TRADER electronic trading platform.

Under the agreement, market participants will be able to use TT’s X_TRADER to execute trades in over-the-counter (OTC) cash energy products listed on ICE as well as all futures contracts listed on the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), ICE’s London-based regulated futures exchange subsidiary.

ICE said that TT will be the first independent software vendor (ISV) to connect to ICE’s electronic OTC markets, which lists more than 600 products in oil, natural gas, power and precious metals.

Prior to the arrangement, ICE participants accessed the electronic trading platform, known as the Interchange, exclusively through WebICE, a browser based trading screen. The collaboration arrangement with TT will provide access to ICE and IPE energy markets to a broad audience through TT’s X_TRADER software. ICE said it will allocate and host dedicated servers in order to provide secure access from the X_TRADER platform to the Interchange via the Internet and ICE’s private network. The move will also enable users of the TT and ICE platforms to integrate risk monitoring across both systems.

Marking another first, ICE noted that the arrangement will be the first time TT’s customers will have access to energy products. ICE added that TT customers will be able to use one platform to “seamlessly” access three different product types in the energy markets: futures, cash and OTC derivatives contracts. TT currently provides connections to the world’s dominant futures exchanges. TT also recently announced plans to create a new marketplace with ICAP’s BrokerTec for trading of fixed income securities.

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