High prices are attracting a wide range of new participants to energy trading markets,from sophisticated traders to small consumers hedging price risk.The advent of electronic markets has lowered barriers to entry,and investors are showing a greater appetite for risk.Even individual investors such as day traders,who previously avoided commodities as too complex and risky,are emerging as a trading category.Energy has been"underutilised for many years"and is only now being recognised as an asset class,says IntercontinentalExchange(Ice)chief executive Jeffrey Sprecher.The all-electronic Ice says first-quarter trading volumes doubled from a year earlier.Its main rival Nymex reported a 39pc rise in volumes.
展开▼
