A company’s organisational structure includes various functions, often classified as business functions, control functions and support functions. Each of those can include multiple sub-classes. Risk management and audit are common examples of control functions. The same applies for compliance and surveillance. In small companies, various (or all) control functions may be combined and managed by… View Article

In the United States, the following three pieces of regulation contain anti-market abuse provisions that are relevant to commodity or energy markets: the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) of 1936 the Energy Policy Act (EPA) of 2005, and the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. Besides, the anti-abuse provisions of the the Commodity Exchange… View Article

In the traded markets, participants apply algorithms to perform so-called ‘algorithmic trading’. A main concern with the application of algorithms concerns the possibility of misleading price signals or the possibility of disorderly trading.   In general, market abuse must be prevented. More particularly, market manipulation must be prevented. And when committed, it must be detected… View Article

In the world of electricity, physical capacity may be unavailable. It could be the result of scheduled maintenance or it may concern unplanned unavailability; the latter, typically, being an ad hoc event. Irrespective of the type of maintenance, it may concern information which impacts the market. In order to create a level playing field for… View Article

Market manipulation is prohibited. Therefore, it has to be prevented and detected. For that matter it is crucial to know what it concerns.   Market manipulation can be committed in many ways. There are various schemes. Cross-market manipulation concerns one type of scheme, although it has many forms.   Basically, cross-market manipulation concerns trading in… View Article

Both rationale and emotions relate to the decision-making process of human beings. This automatically implies that both ratio and feelings impact our actions or behaviour. Psychological aspects, including mental traps, can impact a professional’s performance, as well as his attitude.   Evil could be described as the abuse of free will. There are various types… View Article

Both ‘spoofing’ and ‘layering’ are strategies to manipulate a market. Both schemes, techniques or strategies are prohibited. Basically, the underlying technique involves the placing of orders without the intention to have these orders executed. That, in itself, is not allowed. After all, any order should be submitted with the intention to have it executed.  … View Article

When considering conduct, it is important to note that ethical blindness could appear. Misconduct is not just the consequence of people who are acting willfully. A person is not perse fully aware of the consequences of his actions. Humans simply do not have access to all information, nor do people process all available information, and… View Article

Many economic theories are based on ‘homo economicus’, the rational human being. Regrettably, this assumption has caused a great deal of trouble. Humans, including investors, consumers and traders, seem to base a lot of their decisions on irrational considerations.   It seems that often behaviour is driven significantly by context, as opposed to content. Cognitive… View Article

Physical withholding concerns a strategy to manipulate markets. Therefore, physical withholding is prohibited.   In general, price setting mechanisms should work correctly. More specifically, the price of a commodity or commodity contract reflects scarcity, among many other factors. One can expect that in certain situations a scarcity premium will be built into prices, and prices… View Article