Electronic Platforms

Live read-only market screens
Live trading software
Market Operator Services and setting up an electronic marketplace

A major trend in the energy and commodites sector has been the shift of voice business onto electronic platforms with proper voice support. Spectron pioneered one of the first electronic marketplaces for trading energy and the hybrid voice/screen model it now offers has become the industry standard.Some of the benefits of an electronic platform are:

Liquidity and Transparency
An electronic trading system allows Spectron to offer a broader range of clients a wider and deeper view of the markets. Spectron clients can now cover a wider range of energy markets than was possible using the traditional voice-only system.

Speed
Trades can be executed instantaneously.

Information
Market participants using the electronic marketplace are able to see a log of all the trades executed on the system. The quality of this information is far higher than that which was previously available, when market participants only had hard data on the trades in which they were involved or relied on daily market surveys/reports - which are often delivered the next day and report mostly unconfirmed deals.

Better Prices
The electronic marketplace creates a completely unbiased atmosphere for all, and also encourages market participants to post tighter and better prices. As the electronic market grows, greater volumes are traded and so pricing typically improves.

Improved Back Office Integration
The electronic marketplace is able to save time and lower the risk of human error by providing immediate electronic confirmation of trades. The electronic system also makes it quick and easy to provide additional reports to meet a client’s risk management and other reporting requirements.

SPECTRON’s Electronic Expertise
Spectron has significant electronic platform expertise. It has been developing screen software with a leading software house since 1994. Its current system has been written from the ground up to make it as robust as possible and it has proven itself over time to be fast, reliable and secure. It is also easily adaptable.

Some of the key benefits Spectron provides are:

• Neutral market supervision;Independent dispute resolution management;
• Straight through processing of trades, including planned integration with the EFET 3.3 standard – which is intended to include FFAs;
• Resilient infrastructure to ensure optimum platform availability;
• Market-leading resource with extensive knowledge of trading software and the processing of commodity products;
• Quality and timely support from a team that understands the market.

If you would like to take advantage of Spectron’s knowledge in this area and/or would like help in developing and operating an electronic marketplace please contact Simon Davidson - Chief Information Officer.