Glossary of Terms

Key terms used across ElectronX products, the trading platform, collateral mechanics, and the FIX API.

Exchange Participants Account Products Pricing Orders Collateral Fees Widgets

Exchange & regulatory structure

DCM (Designated Contract Market): A CFTC-regulated exchange authorized to offer futures and options contracts for trading. ElectronX operates as Electron Exchange DCM, LLC.
DCO (Derivatives Clearing Organization): A CFTC-regulated clearinghouse that clears and settles derivatives trades. ElectronX operates as Electron Exchange DCO, LLC. All trades executed on the exchange are cleared through the ElectronX DCO.
EXI: The shorthand identifier for ElectronX used in regulatory filings, rulebook references, and internal documentation. The EXI Rulebook governs all trading and clearing activity on the exchange.
EXI Rulebook: The governing set of rules and regulations applicable to all exchange participants, clearing members, and trading activity on ElectronX. Available at electronx.com/regulatory.
ISO (Independent System Operator): A regional grid operator that manages electricity transmission and wholesale market operations across a defined geographic area. ElectronX currently lists products for ERCOT, PJM, MISO, and CAISO.
ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas): The ISO that manages the Texas electricity grid and wholesale market. ERCOT publishes real-time Settlement Point Prices (SPPs) every 15 minutes, which are used to determine settlement for ElectronX ERCOT contracts.
PJM: The ISO that manages the electricity grid across 13 states and the District of Columbia in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. PJM publishes verified real-time Locational Marginal Prices (LMPs) the following day between 11 AM and 12 PM ET, which are used to determine settlement for ElectronX PJM contracts.
MISO: The ISO that manages electricity across portions of 15 states in the Midwest and South. MISO publishes preliminary ex-post hourly Locational Marginal Prices (LMPs) the following day by 8 AM EST, which are used to determine settlement for ElectronX MISO contracts.
CAISO: The ISO that manages the California electricity grid and wholesale market. CAISO publishes real-time Fifteen-Minute Market Locational Marginal Prices prices (FMM LMPs) every 15 minutes, which are used to determine settlement for ElectronX CAISO contracts.

Participants & roles

Participant & Clearing Member: A firm or individual that is both a Participant of the exchange (DCM) and a Clearing Member of the clearinghouse (DCO). Trading & Clearing Participants trade on their own behalf and are responsible for collateralizing and settling their own trades.
Clearing Member: An entity that holds a clearing account at the ElectronX DCO. All exchange Participants must have an associated clearing membership. Clearing Members interact directly with the DCO for all cash transactions.
Clearing-Only Participant: A participant that holds DCO clearing membership but delegates trading authority to a Delegated Participant. The Clearing-Only Participant remains the direct exchange member and retains full liability for all trading activity.
Delegated Participant: A firm or individual authorized by a Clearing-Only Participant to enter trades on the exchange on the Participant's behalf. A Delegated Participant does not require its own DCO clearing membership; all trades are made under the authorization of and for the benefit of the Participant.
Authorized User: A user associated with a trading account who is authorized to place and manage trades on behalf of the account holder. Access credentials are provided after onboarding.
Risk User: A designated user role with authority to manage account structure, users, and risk oversight functions.
Operations User: A designated user role with authority to manage operational tasks including fund transfers and withdrawals, and has access to EOD Clearing Member reports.

Account structure

Primary Collateral Account: The main customer fiat account at ElectronX that holds trading funds. Titled under the legal entity name of the participant and matched to the participant's designated bank account. All incoming wire deposits are received into the Primary Collateral Account.
Secondary Collateral Account: An additional fiat account established at the participant's request, linked to the Primary Collateral Account. Used to organize capital across desks, strategies, or operational structures. Funds flow from the Primary Collateral Account to Secondary Collateral Accounts by participant instruction.
Trading Account: A permissioned account through which a user places and manages trades. Each Trading Account is linked to a single Collateral Account and can be configured for GUI access, API access, or both. Multiple Trading Accounts may be established under a single Collateral Account.
Trading Desk: An optional organizational layer that groups one or more Trading Accounts for internal monitoring, reporting, and risk oversight purposes. Trading Desks do not hold funds or execute trades directly. A default Trading Desk is automatically associated with each Trading Account.
Available to Trade: The portion of your account balance that is immediately available for placing new orders. Reflects cash deposits, settled P&L, and collateral released from closed or settled positions, does not include collateral committed to open positions and pending orders.
Committed Collateral: Funds currently reserved to back open positions and pending orders. Includes position collateral, execution fees, clearing fees, and settlement fees. Committed Collateral is released to Available to Trade when positions settle, close, or orders are canceled.

Products

Bounded Future (BFUT): A cash-settled, fully collateralized derivatives contract that tracks real-time electricity prices for a specific location and hour, with a predefined floor and ceiling. The settlement price cannot exceed the ceiling or fall below the floor. Available across ERCOT, PJM, MISO, and CAISO. Each ISO offers up to three variants (Standard, Moderate, Extended); the specific floor and ceiling of each variant differ by ISO.
BFUT100 (Standard): Bounded Future with a $0-$100/MWh range. Applicable to ERCOT, PJM, and CAISO.
BFUT500 (Moderate): Bounded Future with a $0-$500/MWh range. Applicable to ERCOT and PJM.
BFUT5000 (Extended, ERCOT): Bounded Future with a -$250-$5,000/MWh range. ERCOT only. The negative floor creates additional collateral requirements for long positions.
BFUT Extended (PJM): Bounded Future with a -$50-$3,700/MWh range. PJM only. Different bounds from the ERCOT Extended. The negative floor creates additional collateral requirements for long positions.
BFUT200 (Standard, MISO): Bounded Future with a $0-$200/MWh range. MISO only.
BFUT700 (Moderate, MISO): Bounded Future with a -$100-$700/MWh range. MISO only. The negative floor creates additional collateral requirements for long positions.
BFUT3500 (Extended, MISO): Bounded Future with a -$500-$3,500/MWh range. MISO only. The negative floor creates additional collateral requirements for long positions.
BFUT300 (Moderate, CAISO): Bounded Future with a -$50-$300/MWh range. CAISO only. The negative floor creates additional collateral requirements for long positions.
BFUT2000 (Extended, CAISO): Bounded Future with a -$150-$2,000/MWh range. CAISO only. The negative floor creates additional collateral requirements for long positions.
Binary Option (BOPT): A cash-settled, fully collateralized contract that pays either $100 or $0 per lot, depending on whether the Real-Time Floating Price for a given hour is at or above the Strike Price (Day-Ahead price). Available for ERCOT, PJM, MISO, and CAISO locations.
Contract Unit: The standardized size of one contract on ElectronX: 1 MegaWatt-hour (MWh). All P&L and collateral calculations are expressed in dollars per MWh.
Lot: One contract unit (1 MWh). Order quantities on ElectronX are expressed in lots.
Hour Ending (HE): The convention used to identify which hourly contract is being traded. HE14 refers to the contract covering the hour ending at 2:00 PM - i.e., the period from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM. ERCOT uses Central Time (CT), PJM uses Eastern Time (ET), MISO uses Eastern Standard Time (EST*), CAISO uses Pacific Time (PT). (*MISO is always in EST, this never switches to EDT.)
Listed Contracts: The set of contracts available for trading at any given time. ElectronX lists every hour for the next 5 consecutive calendar days per instrument: 24 hours × 5 days = 120 contracts per instrument.
Rolling 5-Day Window: The continuous contract listing structure whereby, as each hour expires, a new contract 5 days forward is automatically listed. The total number of available contracts per instrument remains 120 at all times.
Trading Location (ERCOT): An ERCOT pricing location representing a geographic zone of the Texas grid. ERCOT hubs available on ElectronX: North, Houston, South, West, Pan (Panhandle), Hub Average, Bus Average.
Hub Average (HB_AVERAGE): The simple average of the North, Houston, South, and West ERCOT hub prices.
Bus Average (HB_BUSAVG): The load-weighted average of the locational marginal prices at all designated hub buses across Texas.
Trading Location (PJM): A pricing node on the PJM grid. Includes hubs (AEP-Dayton, Eastern, N Illinois, Western), interfaces (MISO, South), and zones (Dominion).
Trading Location (MISO): A pricing location on the MISO grid. Includes hubs (Indiana, Minnesota, Louisiana) and an interface (PJM).
Trading Location (CAISO): A pricing location on the CAISO grid. Hubs available on ElectronX: NP15, SP15.
Hub: A pricing location that represents the aggregate price across a defined group of nodes within a region, providing a single liquid reference price. Examples on ElectronX include ERCOT North, PJM Western Hub, and CAISO NP15.
Node: The most granular pricing point on an ISO grid: an individual location (often called a bus or pnode) at which a Locational Marginal Price is calculated. Hubs, zones, and interfaces are aggregations derived from nodal prices.
Zone: A pricing location covering a broad geographic area of the grid, typically aligned to a utility or load region. On ElectronX, PJM's Dominion Zone is offered.
Interface: A pricing location representing the boundary between two neighboring ISO regions, reflecting the price of power exchanged across that tie. ElectronX offers PJM interfaces (MISO, South) and a MISO interface (PJM).

Pricing & settlement

Execution Price: The price at which your order is filled and your position is established. Used as the reference point for P&L and collateral calculations.
Settlement Price: The final price used to close out a position at expiration. For Bounded Futures, it is the real-time price for the contract hour, bounded by the floor and ceiling (an average of four 15-minute intervals for ERCOT and CAISO, or a single verified hourly value for PJM and MISO). For Binary Options, it is either $100 or $0 depending on whether the Floating Price meets or exceeds the Strike Price.
Settlement Point Price (SPP): The real-time electricity price published by ERCOT every 15 minutes for each wholesale hub. ERCOT BFUT Settlement Price = arithmetic average of the four SPPs within the contract hour (capped by bounds).
Verified Real-Time LMP (PJM): PJM's real-time hourly price metric, published the following day (T+1) between 11 AM and 12 PM ET on business days only (not weekends). ElectronX uses this single verified hourly LMP directly as the PJM Settlement Price (and Binary Option Floating Price); no sub-hourly averaging is required.
Fifteen-Minute Market LMP (FMM LMP): The real-time electricity price published by CAISO every 15 minutes on its OASIS platform for each pricing location. CAISO Settlement Price (and Binary Option Floating Price) = arithmetic average of the four FMM LMPs within the contract hour (capped by bounds for Bounded Futures).
Preliminary Ex-Post LMP (MISO): MISO's real-time hourly price metric, published by 8 AM EST the following day (T+1), including weekends. ElectronX uses this single verified hourly LMP directly as the MISO Settlement Price (and Binary Option Floating Price); no sub-hourly averaging is required.
Floating Price (Binary Options): The real-time hourly average price (real-time price) that is compared to the Strike Price to determine the Binary Option's final settlement outcome. For ERCOT, this is the average of four 15-minute SPPs. For PJM, this is the verified hourly LMP. For MISO, this is the Preliminary Ex-Post hourly LMP. For CAISO, this is the average of four 15-minute FMM LMPs.
Strike Price (Binary Options): The previous day's Day-Ahead Market price for the corresponding location and hour. Set at DAM publication and fixed for the life of the contract. A Binary Option settles at $100 if the Floating Price ≥ Strike Price, and $0 if below.
Day-Ahead Market (DAM) / Day-Ahead Price: The forward market price for electricity delivery the following day, published by the applicable ISO. This price becomes the Strike Price for Binary Options.
Locational Marginal Price (LMP): The pricing metric used by PJM, MISO, and CAISO, representing the cost of serving the next increment of electricity demand at a specific location. Verified real-time hourly LMPs are the basis for PJM contract settlement; MISO uses the Preliminary Ex-Post hourly LMP, and CAISO uses the average of four 15-minute FMM LMPs.
T+1 Settlement (PJM, MISO): PJM and MISO contracts do not settle on the same day as expiry. Verified real-time LMPs are published by PJM between 11 AM and 12 PM ET the following business day. ElectronX processes settlement after those prices are released. Committed Collateral is held overnight. MISO contracts also settle on T+1, with Preliminary Ex-Post LMPs published by 8 AM EST the following day; unlike PJM, MISO publishes daily, including weekends, so collateral is released the morning after expiry regardless of the day. ERCOT and CAISO settle same-day.
Price Bounds: The floor and ceiling of a Bounded Futures contract. Settlement cannot fall outside these bounds regardless of actual market prices.
Tick Size: The minimum price increment for orders and settlement. ElectronX tick size: $0.25 per MWh.
Payout: The amount credited to (or debited from) your Committed Collateral when a contract settles. Equal to Position × (Settlement Price - Execution Price), net of fees.
Realized P&L: Profit or loss locked in from closed positions and settled contracts. Displayed as "Today's Realized P&L" in the platform, which resets to $0.00 at 6:15 AM UTC each trading day.

Order types & Time in Force

Limit Order: An order to buy or sell at a specified price or better. Will not fill at a worse price. May rest in the order book if not immediately matched.
Market-Limit Order (ToB): An order that first attempts to execute at the best available market price; any unfilled portion converts to a limit order at the specified price. Enabled in the platform by checking the "ToB" (Top of Book) checkbox.
DAY: A Time in Force designation. The order is valid only for the current trading session and cancels automatically at market close.
GTC (Good Till Canceled): A Time in Force designation. The order remains active across trading sessions until the contract expires, is completely filled, or explicitly canceled.
GTD (Good Till Date): A Time in Force designation. The order remains active until a trader-specified expiration date and time. GUI orders use local time; FIX API orders require a UTC timestamp.
IOC (Immediate or Cancel): A Time in Force designation. The order seeks immediate execution; any unfilled portion is canceled instantly. Partial fills are permitted.
FOK (Fill or Kill): A Time in Force designation. The order must be completely filled immediately or the entire order is canceled. Partial fills are not permitted.
Cancel-Replace: A mechanism for modifying an existing open order. Price, quantity, and TiF can be changed. Contract, side, order type, and trading account cannot be changed. Increasing quantity or changing price causes the order to lose time priority.
Time Priority: The order in which resting orders at the same price level are filled. Earlier orders have priority over later ones. Time priority is lost when an order's price changes or quantity increases via Cancel-Replace. Decreasing quantity preserves time priority.
Self-Match Prevention: An exchange rule that prevents a participant from simultaneously holding a resting bid and a resting offer at the same price in the same contract. Orders that would create a self-match are rejected. All Trading Accounts under the same Desk are prevented from trading with one another.
Open Orders: Orders that have been submitted but not yet completely filled or canceled. Visible in the Open Orders table.

Collateral mechanics

Full Collateralization: ElectronX's clearing model in which all positions are pre-funded to cover maximum potential losses. No variation margin is required. Collateral is posted upfront at order submission, covering the worst-case outcome for each side.
Novation: The process by which the ElectronX clearinghouse (DCO) exists between the buyer and seller of every trade, becoming the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer.
Counterparty Risk: The risk that the other party to a trade will fail to meet their obligations. On ElectronX, counterparty risk is virtually eliminated through central clearing and full collateralization.
Long Position: A position resulting from buying contracts. A long Bounded Future profits when the Settlement Price is above the Execution Price. A long Binary Option profits when the Real-Time price settles at or above the Day-Ahead price.
Short Position: A position resulting from selling contracts. A short Bounded Future profits when the Settlement Price is below the Execution Price. A short Binary Option profits when the Real-Time price settles below the Day-Ahead price.
Net Position: The result of offsetting buys and sells in the same contract. A long 10 lots and a short 10 lots in the same instrument nets to zero. Net positions of zero have $0 Committed Collateral.
Offset / Flatten: Closing an open position by entering the opposite side before contract expiration. A long position is offset by selling the same quantity of the same contract; a short position is offset by buying.
Initial Deposit: The minimum deposit required to open an account with ElectronX: $25,000. These funds are available for trading upon deposit, they are not a capital floor held at the exchange. This is a one-time capitalization requirement.
Bank of Montreal (BMO): The bank at which ElectronX holds client collateral in an FDIC-insured omnibus account (insured up to $250,000), segregated from ElectronX operating capital.

Fees

Execution Fee: A per-lot fee charged for order matching and execution. Reserved in Committed Collateral at order placement; consumed at execution. $0.15/lot for firms onboarded on or after January 28, 2026.
Clearing Fee: A per-lot fee charged for clearinghouse services. Reserved in Committed Collateral at order placement; consumed at execution. $0.05/lot.
Settlement Fee: A per-lot fee charged for contract settlement. Reserved in Committed Collateral at order placement; consumed when the position settles. Returned to Available to Trade if the position is closed before settlement. $0.05/lot.

Platform widgets

Market Table: A real-time display of the Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) for selected exchange symbols. Each row represents one contract expiration hour, showing bid and ask prices and available quantities. Filterable by product and location.
Market Library: A combined order book and chart view for a selected location. Includes a forward curve, with depth-of-market with color-coded bid (green)/ask (red) visualization on a day-ahead price chart. Selecting any hour on the Market Library opens a Vertical Order Book for that hour.
Vertical Order Book (VOB): A price-ladder view of a single contract's order book, with each row representing one price level spaced by the tick size ($0.25). Resting bid and ask quantities are displayed at their respective price levels so you can place, modify, and cancel orders directly on the ladder for faster execution. To place orders using the VOB, one must first turn off the safety trading toggle. Clicking a price level submits an order at that level using the quantity, order type, and Time in Force set in the order panel. Opened by selecting an hour in the Market Library or via the Market Table.
Market Price Chart: A chart displaying Day-Ahead prices (blue), Real-Time prices (teal), Hourly Average Prices (yellow hash) (or Unverified Hourly Prices (purple hash)), and Settlement prices (orange hash) across all hourly contracts for a selected product and location.
Time & Sales: A real-time trade blotter showing all executed trades for a selected location in chronological order. Each row shows timestamp, contract, price, and quantity.
Positions Table: A real-time view of open positions by contract, showing buy quantity, sell quantity, net position, and average price.
Settled Positions Table: A historical record of settled and closed positions, showing position, settlement price, and P&L.
Settlement Tracker: A real-time monitoring module for contract settlement data. Displays countdown timers, live pricing data feeds, and recently expired contract outcomes.
Open Orders: Orders that have been submitted but not yet completely filled or canceled are visible in the Open Orders table.
Order Blotter: A comprehensive log of all orders associated with a trading account, including both open orders and order history. Shows status types including WORKING, FILL, NEW, and CANCELED.
Executions Table: A record of successfully executed trades. Each row represents a fill or partial fill, showing timestamp, contract, price, side, and quantity.

Contact

For questions about any term in this glossary, contact support@electronx.com or +1 (312) 256-2978 during market hours (Monday–Friday, 7:00 AM–8:00 PM CT).

Disclaimer

If there is any conflict between this website page and the EXI Rulebook, the EXI Rulebook is controlling. Refer to electronx.com/risk-disclosure for full risk disclosures.