IGX introduces 'open auction' trading

New feature improves auction methodology aimed at enhancing the ease of trade

New Delhi: The Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) on Friday said it has introduced market-friendly features including improved auction methodology aimed at enhancing the ease of trade for market participants.

"The (IGX), India's first authorised Gas Exchange, is pleased to introduce 'open auction' trading, on its platform," an IGX statement said adding that the trading through new formats has commenced with effect from March 25, 2021.

The proposal for change was made to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) and the same was approved by PNGRB last week, it said. The move is aimed at enhancing ease of trade for market participants and allowing them the price and volume visibility across hubs.

The new trading features would encourage greater participation on the Exchange and help to build gas markets. The monthly, fortnightly, weekly and weekday contracts will have open auction mechanism, while the daily contracts will be traded through continuous trading mechanism.

In double-sided open auction, both sellers and buyers will have access to the information regarding price and quantity shared by the various sellers on the platform. The auction will lead to discovery of a single uniform clearing price for each contract type, the statement said.

With the introduction of the open auction mechanism, the buyers will now be able to compare gas prices across the hubs and make a bidding decision based on the most competitive gas pricing for the required duration. The continuous trading methodology introduced in daily contracts will facilitate immediate trading for short duration contracts. The market participants trading under daily contracts will not have to wait for the market to end to get the trade information. It will also allow trading multiple times during the trading hours. Further, the market trading hours on the exchange have also been extended and the trading window will now be from 10 am to 1 pm as compared to the previous trading window of 10am - 12 pm. "We are committed to creating IGX as a market friendly platform and build a well-functioning gas market."

In our endeavour towards these objectives, we have introduced open auction for all contracts except for daily contracts. In daily contracts we will follow continuous matching system basis the feedback provided by the stakeholders," Rajesh K Mediratta, Director, IGX said in the statement.

These modifications will allow the participants to view the best prices in the trading system and tweak their bids accordingly, Mediratta said adding that "we have introduced few ease-of-trading measures like uploading of all bids at one shot reducing traders' time and chances of errors, and easy access to historical order and trade books."

IGX currently offers trade in five contracts at three physical hubs - Hazira and Dahej in Gujarat and KG Basin in Andhra Pradesh. The Exchange has built a very robust ecosystem with over 500 registered clients and 16 members and has cumulatively traded 1,93,700 MMBTU (Metric Million British Thermal Unit) volume of gas already.