CTRM Center

Raising the Next Generation of Commodity Traders

It was the early ‘70s and I was done with the “kids games” of my youth. Chutes & Ladders, Sorry, and a colorful deck of Go-Fish cards sat gathering dust on the shelf while I fed my infatuation with grown-up board games such as Monopoly and Clue. Then my parents put one of the most awesome games I’d ever seen under the Christmas tree. It was unlike any game I’d ever played before and it still intrigues me today. A 3-dimensional wonder, it was one of the most mechanically interactive board games of the time, no batteries required. It was King Oil. King Oil was exactly what its name implied. You bought properties, you drilled for oil, and you tried to get rich. An innovative game board... continue reading

Is European CTRM Demand Finally Picking Up?

With significantly lower commodity prices, a plethora of new regulations to deal with, structural changes in the industry (read renewables largely), more difficult to find trading opportunities and so on, the market for CTRM software has been difficult this last 18-months or so. However, with much of the regulatory work now behind us, there does seem to be signals of an increase in activity levels. As I talk with many of the vendors in Europe, I am hearing that there are more incoming opportunities in the form of RFPs and that pipelines are quite robust in terms of opportunities. Maybe, we are across the hump (sag?) in demand? However, things have definitely changed. Traditionally, we have looked at the market as segments and tiers where the tiers... continue reading

Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) Goes Live on Nasdaq Trading Technology

NEW YORK and TOKYO, Sept. 22, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) today announced the successful go-live of TOCOM’s new trading system, which is powered by Nasdaq’s Genium INET technology, as well as Nasdaq Pre-Trade Risk and SMARTS Market Surveillance solutions. The new system is now fully integrated with the Osaka Exchange’s derivatives trading system (J-GATE), which also runs on the same Nasdaq trading technology. This approach of a mutually-shared trading system between two separate exchanges is one of first of its kind in the world. Nasdaq and TOCOM have been technology partners since 2009. “We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to our partner Nasdaq who has contributed to the successful integration of TOCOM’s new... continue reading

Ancoa becomes a Trayport Certified Software Provider

London, 22 September, 2016 Trayport, a leading provider of energy trading solutions to traders, brokers and exchanges worldwide, announced today that Ancoa has been successfully accredited as a Trayport Certified Software Provider (CSP). Trayport’s CSP program is designed to enable third party suppliers to connect to the Trayport system in order to better support mutual clients. Trayport’s conformance testing ensures peace of mind for both the provider and clients ensuring security, stability and reliability against Trayport technology. The changing regulatory landscape means that many energy market participants now require surveillance and analytics tools to ensure that they remain compliant. For Ancoa, becoming a CSP was a desired step to ensuring that they could confidently serve the needs of any Trayport clients looking for these tools. “We welcome... continue reading