The European Energy Exchange (EEX) is continuing the strong development in its Nordic power derivatives markets in all of the key indicators for growing a successful market. Volumes in terms of trades and orders in both the system price and zonal contracts are quickly gaining momentum. Market shares are increasing as well as the EEX open interest in the major system price and zonal contracts. Furthermore, the impressive increase in number of active traders has been warmly received by market participants.
In January 2026, a volume of 3.6 TWh was traded in the EEX Nordic Power Futures which has significant growth compared to the previous month and is even +8,162% year-on-year. Market share growth in both the system and zonal contracts has been impressive, which now stands at approximately 10% in months, 20% in quarters and up to 25% in yearly contracts. Standing out in January was the Sweden 3 zone, where the EEX reached almost 20% exchange market share, which is the largest zone by volume, with 1.5 TWh traded on EEX, marking an all-time high.
Liquidity on EEX has increased noticeably since the start of the comprehensive liquidity programmes, which started on 1 September 2025. From September 2025 to January 2026 a volume of 12.9 TWh has been traded, while the total 2025 volume amounted to 11.7 TWh.
The growth in volumes is also reflected by a dynamically increasing Open Interest which is up over 90% compared to last year. EEX has doubled its market open interest share over the last few months to 6% in the System Price Futures, based on exchange data published by ESMA. Open Interest (OI) rate is the total number of unsettled derivatives contracts in a given market, indicating the interest level and liquidity of this market.
The impressive growth in volumes, open interest and market shares in the system and zonal contracts is reflected in the number of active traders, both in terms of the number of trades and orders. Traders have started to notice that EEX’s Nordic power offering is growing and this is attracting new participants. EEX has especially been successful in adding new international market participants which are trading Nordic power for the first time. Over the past five months the number of active participants has steadily increased, with a record participation of 45 in January 2026.
Peter Reitz, CEO of EEX, comments: “It’s great to see liquidity growing and we have good arguments for traders to use our products for hedging. We provide choice for customers by offering system price and zonal products, offering dedicated customer support with our offices in Stockholm and Oslo and bring our larger continental European and US-based market participant base to the Nordics. In close collaboration with both international and local trading participants, we look forward to continued liquidity growth throughout 2026.”
EEX’s product offering for the region includes both Nordic System Price contracts, the so-called Zonal Futures with price determination for each Nordic delivery area, and Implied EPADs, a combination of Zonal Futures and the Nordic System Price Futures, which provide the benefit of the location spread effect. This setup reduces capital requirements through cross-margining effects.
