In only six months since going live with its full spectrum of over-the-counter (OTC) products, Online trading platform IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), has made a significant impact on the energy and metals markets. The company said over 42,000 trades have been made on ICE since it commenced trading with a combined notional value of $70 billion. Trading volumes on ICE have been growing exponentially with average daily volume in March up 33% from February.

Currently, ICE said its system is installed on 3,750 desktops worldwide from which traders log on every day of the business week to trade more than 600 listed contracts. Market participation on the exchange continues to expand at a rapid rate and currently includes over 200 of the world’s largest energy and financial commodity firms.

ICE has quickly staked its claim in electronic trading for OTC commodity products with current market share approximating 7% for global oil/refined product derivatives (42 active firms); 20% of North American power (39 active firms); 14% of North American natural gas and derivatives (34 active firms); and 8% of global precious metals (15 active firms).

Volumes on ICE continue to experience strong growth. Last month, volume levels for crude oil and refined products reached 168 million barrels; for power 55 million MWh; for natural gas 820 Bcf; and for precious metals 8 million gold-equivalent ounces.

In addition, ICE recently announced that it set a weekly volume trading record of more than 370 Bcf of natural gas for the week ending Friday, April 6 (see Daily GPI, April 11). The company previously announced that it had broken a single-day record on Wednesday April 4, with more than 97 Bcf of natural gas traded on its system. On March 22, ICE announced that its platform notched another single day record on its power exchange, trading 4 million MWh in power (see Daily GPI, March 26).

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