They began trading crude oil, refined products and natural gas in February and May respectively. Analysts say the two great imponderables for these new multilateral exchanges are regulation and clearing procedures. This leaves e-trading in a very gray area. I really would question whether anyone is going to go and have information handled only by Enron, where there's a market bias. If the multilateral exchanges do get CTFC clearance, users will be anxious that the clearing process is secure, but observers say the technology exists to ensure that.
Analysts believe they have to adapt or die.
The lesson of a lot of other trading markets is that the opportunity for faster, easier discovery of price and transparency on who is doing what means the broker is under threat. But Murtha believes middlemen can survive in a new form. Spence says that adaptability works both ways, in that the exchanges also have to cater for those companies keen to protect their customer relationships by not taking transparency too far. Everything that's available in terms of opacity is available in the online equivalent. Traders are very reluctant to have their positions available and visible for the world to see.