Intercontinental Exchange, Reaching Traders Across The Globe
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is a global exchange for commodities and other financial instruments. With offices in Calgary, Altlanta, Houston, London, Dublin, Singapore and New York it is among the world leaders in trading energy markets and soft commodities via an electronic platform. ICE is considered to be one of the most transparent, efficient , secure and flexible exchanges in the world.
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This way the company’s electronic trading platforms can reach potential traders in more than 50 countries in the world using the Internet.
So if you are thinking of trading online in crude oil, natural gas and power futures, then the ICE electronic platform seems to provide a very good means of achieving that objective. Also offered through this platform are futures contracts in emissions, a growing area with the global concern over climate change.
There is also a range of soft commodities, including cotton, wood pulp, sugar, orange juice and cocoa.
The introduction of ethanol futures is another sign of the growing interest in and demand for alternative fuels to the hydrocarbons. From the perspective of commodities, ICE operates in two prime locations and which one you chose depends on what type of futures contract you want to trade. So if you are looking to trade energy futures you would use the platform provided by ICE Futures Europe, based in London and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
Alternatively, if you are interested in soft commodities then your pathway leads to ICE Futures US (formerly NYBOT), regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
You can get exposure to a broad range of commodities by buying the Continuous Commodity Index (CCI), which was the original CRB Index until its revision in 1995.
This index is made up of 17 commodity futures prices and this is one way of diversifying your investment across a range rather than trading in just a few sectors.
There is also the Reuters Jeffries/CRB Index of 19 commodities providing another means of access to the global constellation of raw materials.
If you want to trade futures in specific energy or soft commodities, then this is also available on this electronic trading platform. Soft futures:
And with growing interest in the energy and environmental challenges facing the world economy - the depletion of hydrocarbons and concern over our carbon footprint - there is a range of products offering exposure to this sector. Energy related futures:
With the introduction of emissions futures there is a growing market for carbon, and the discovery and commercial application of technology which mitigates greenhouse gases will drive the growth of this sector further.
We are likely to see further developments in the Intercontinental Exchange in the near future, driven by new products and possible consolidation of electronic trading platforms as the exchange mergers with other locations.
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