Membership types

A direct member is an EPEX SPOT member authorised to trade directly on the Exchange. With this membership, the member has two options to set up its associated clearing membership: Non-Clearing Member (NCM) or Direct Clearing Participant (DCP).

An indirect trading member is an EPEX SPOT member authorised to trade via an appointed direct trading member of its choice, called a Professional Certified Trader (PCT). In this set-up, trading is exclusively carried out by the appointed PCT for the account of the indirect trading member.

This offer is tailor-made for companies that want to join EPEX SPOT to trade directly on the Exchange, but do not wish to set up their own clearing infrastructure. In this set-up, the trading member is granted a Passport or Group Membership© and partners with another Exchange member of its choice, who supports its trading activity via its own clearing infrastructure.

All EPEX SPOT products are cleared and settled by European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC). As part of the EEX Group, ECC is the leading clearing house for energy and commodity products in Europe, securing the physical and financial settlement of transactions. In its role as a central counterparty, ECC steps between the buyer and seller and assumes the counterparty risk. In the event of a default of a trading member, ECC guarantees payment and delivery of the transactions.

The clearing process of ECC relies on an infrastructure of international banks operating as Clearing Members. If you want to trade spot and derivatives, you can opt for a Non-Clearing Member (NCM) setup, where your connection to ECC is made through one of its connected Clearing Members, and the clearing is done based on post-margining. 

If you want to trade spot only, you can become a Direct Clearing Participant (DCP), where you are a direct member of the Clearing House, in partnership with a connected bank for the pre-collateralisation of your transactions at EPEX SPOT.