TT^® Connect Blog

Japan’s power market is undergoing a profound transformation. With the liberalization of the electricity market beginning in 2000 and a national push toward decarbonization, the demand for sophisticated risk management tools is greater than ever. The Japanese power futures market is at the forefront of this evolution, providing a critical platform for hedging against price volatility.

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) has emerged as a key player in this space, with its Japan Power Futures contracts seeing notable growth since their launch in May 2020. Trading volumes have surged, and EEX has captured a significant market share. Ahead of this week’s Japan Power Summit, we spoke with Bob Takai, CEO of EEX Japan, to discuss the factors driving this growth and what lies ahead for the market.

Post-trade has historically run behind in processes and technology compared with the pre-trade and execution segments of the trade life cycle, but the gap is narrowing amid increased clearing volumes, expanded regulatory mandates and a higher bar for best practices. Clearing houses and providers of clearing, settlement, custody, and other post-trade services are refining their product offerings and moving into new asset classes to better meet the risk management needs of trading clients, whose back offices are aligning more closely with front and middle offices.

At Trading Technologies, we’ve become deeply involved in this evolution. 

Transaction cost analysis (TCA) is well established in equity and fixed income markets. Following TT’s acquisition of Abel Noser Solutions in 2023, a big part of our data and analytics strategy has been to bring TCA to other asset classes, including futures. In April of this year, Bowmoor Capital was among the first clients to deploy TT Futures TCA to inform their trade execution and algorithmic trading strategies and ensure they are achieving best execution. I recently spoke with Brendan Mulvany, Head of Trading at Bowmoor Capital, about his career in futures trading and the value of TCA. 

I’ve had a busy year. My role at Trading Technologies has recently expanded from overseeing just Australia and New Zealand to the entire Asia-Pacific region, and I’m incredibly excited about the opportunities ahead. It’s a chance to truly shape our presence across a diverse set of markets—from our established offices in Australia, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong to the many other markets with their own unique cultures, infrastructure and regulatory nuances.

It’s a busy time for TT in India. Next week, we’re sponsoring the Arjun Global GIFT City Financial Markets & Technology Forum, and then we’ll be in Mumbai at FOW Trading India. This comes as we work on opening our new office in the vibrant GIFT City fintech hub, where we will drive product innovation and development for our clients worldwide—while also providing local, personalized support to our rapidly growing customer base here in GIFT City.