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The trust which the trading participants place in the European Energy Exchange (EEX) and its clearing subsidiary, European Commodity Clear-ing AG (ECC), continues to grow. The development of the open interest as an impor-tant indicator for the market underlines this. For the first time in the history of the ex-change the open interest, representing the total of all open positions, grew on 20/11/2006 to more than 300 TWh, which corresponds to a market value of approx. EUR 17 billion.
“This volume is a token of recognition and an obligation at the same time. This is due to the fact that trading participants opening a position need to be able to assume that they can close it again at any time. After all, they need to be able to respond to changes in the market at short notice. This is ensured by the high liquidity on the EEX Derivatives Market and the secure settlement of transactions via ECC”, Dr. Hans-Bernd Menzel, chairman of the management board of European Energy Exchange AG, explains.
European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC) is a subsidiary of the European Energy Ex-change AG with headquarters in Leipzig. It provides clearing services across markets and products. At the moment, transactions regarding all EEX products can be settled via ECC.
EEX operates a Spot and a Derivatives Market for power and CO2 emission allowances. With currently 156 trading participants from 19 countries, it is the energy exchange in continental Europe which boasts the largest number of trading participants and the highest volume traded. On 2 May 2006, EEX was the first exchange in Europe to launch OTC clearing of coal contracts and trading of coal futures.
