Closing Price · Glossary

The closing price (in German usually "Schlusskurs") is the price at which a tradable product is officially quoted at the end of a trading day, a trading phase or a defined valuation period. In the energy market, this concerns power and gas futures, options, emission allowances, guarantees of origin and other products traded on an exchange or over the counter. The closing price is not a technical price for a single kilowatt hour in the grid. It is a market and valuation figure for a clearly described, standardised product.

A closing price is unambiguous only if several details come with it: product, delivery period, load profile (base, peak or another block), market area, currency, unit of quantity and trading venue. A German base year product for the next calendar year has a different end-of-day value than a peak month product or a week contract. EEX power futures are generally quoted in euros per megawatt hour, with a minimum price change of €0.01/MWh. One contract corresponds to 1 MW of constant power over all delivery hours of the period.

Closing price, last trade and settlement price

The closing price is often confused with the last traded price. In liquid products, the two are usually close to each other. In thinly traded maturities, however, the last trade may be hours old or involve only a very small volume. Such a single value is hardly suitable as a reference. Exchanges therefore set an official end-of-day value according to fixed rules. In energy futures trading, this official value is generally the settlement price, in German the "täglicher Abrechnungspreis". In everyday usage it is often also called the closing price or "Schlusskurs". Which term is binding in a given case is determined by the rulebook of the respective trading venue.

One example is the European Energy Exchange (EEX) in Leipzig. For every contract on every exchange day, it determines a daily settlement price. This serves primarily to calculate the variation margin in clearing and additionally as information on the value of the contract at the end of the day. The basis is trades and orders from a short, defined time window, the settlement price window. For most European power futures, according to the current procedure (version 5.36, July 2026), it runs from 17:05 to 17:15 CET or CEST, and for Nordic power futures from 15:50 to 16:00. The official end-of-day value therefore does not necessarily arise from the very last trade of the day.

This is how the EEX determines the value: if there were trades and matching orders in the time window, a theoretical price is made up of 75 percent of the average trade price and 25 percent of the midpoint between the best bid and the best ask. If there were only trades, the average trade price counts. If there were only quotes, their mean value counts. If both are missing, the exchange may fall back on market data from close in time, on other price sources or on the chief trader procedure, in which exchange participants submit fair value estimates. The exchange then checks every theoretical price for plausibility. It may also adjust the prices so that no arbitrage opportunities arise between related products.

The daily settlement price must be distinguished from the final settlement price at the end of the term. Financially settled power futures are settled in cash. The basis is regularly a spot index, that is, the average of the auction prices in the day-ahead market for the market area, load profile and delivery period. For Germany, this is the Phelix-DE. An index price is therefore an average over many delivery periods. The day-ahead price itself is the result of an auction for physical delivery and is not a closing price in the sense of futures trading.

Why the closing price matters in the energy market

Energy markets do not only organise the delivery of power and gas. They also provide reference prices that companies use to assess risks, hedge transactions, prepare financial statements and post collateral. A utility holds positions in the futures market for future delivery years. An industrial company hedges its electricity costs with futures and forwards. A trader exploits price differences between maturities or market areas. All of these positions are revalued daily at the official end-of-day value (mark-to-market), long before the first megawatt hour is delivered.

In clearing, this has direct consequences for the participants' money. The clearing house settles gains and losses from the price change daily. At the EEX, this is done by European Commodity Clearing (ECC) on the basis of the daily settlement prices. A calculation example: a base year contract of 1 MW comprises 8,760 MWh in a year with 365 days. If its settlement price rises by €1/MWh, the value of the position changes by €8,760. With a jump of €20/MWh and 50 contracts, it is already around €8.8 million. The loser must cover this amount at short notice. A price jump can thus trigger a margin call and tie up liquidity, even though not a single kilowatt hour has yet flowed.

Product definition, liquidity and special features

For power products, the delivery period is part of the price. A base product covers all hours of the period. An EEX peak product covers the hours from 08:00 to 20:00 from Monday to Friday. Public holidays are not excluded, contrary to what the earlier wording "on working days" suggests. There are now further blocks, such as a solar window from 12:00 to 16:00 or an extended peak from 06:00 to 22:00. Each of these products has its own settlement price. Since the day-ahead market has been operated in quarter-hour time units, some contract descriptions refer explicitly to these 15-minute prices.

One special feature concerns negative electricity prices. Under the EEX procedure, the daily settlement prices for day, week and weekend futures may be negative. For month, quarter and year futures, by contrast, a negative theoretical price is raised to the minimum price of €0.01/MWh. The settlement prices for the current front month and front week result in part from already known spot prices and the prices of the associated day or week contracts.

How reliable a closing price is depends on liquidity. In heavily traded products, it arises from numerous trades and tight quotes. In thinly traded maturities, it relies more heavily on fair value estimates, on neighbouring products or on external sources. For contracts without open positions (open interest), the EEX may dispense with a separate settlement price and apply the minimum price. In all cases the published figure looks equally precise, but its informative value differs. Two decimal places do not mean that the market was traded in depth to that level of precision.

Common misunderstandings

The closing price is not the price that everyone paid. Each trade is concluded at its own price. The end-of-day value merely revalues the open position afterwards.
A futures closing price is not the end customer price. Household and commercial prices additionally include network charges, taxes, levies, sales costs and risk premiums (see components of the electricity price). They also depend on when and how the supplier procured the power.
A rising closing price does not indicate current scarcity in the grid. Futures prices react to expectations, fuel and CO₂ prices, weather forecasts, political risks and the need for collateral. Other variables matter for grid operation, such as frequency, available capacity or residual load.
Nevertheless, the closing price is not a purely financial figure. It condenses market participants' expectations about generation, consumption, flexibility, storage and grid congestion into a single number that can be used officially.

Assessment

Behind a closing price there are rules: product definitions, a time window, minimum sizes for the trades and quotes taken into account, plausibility checks and clearing rules. These rules turn individual trades into a value with which valuation, collateralisation and accounting can be carried out. The rules differ by exchange and are adjusted regularly. For example, in December 2022 the EEX moved its time window for power derivatives from 16:20–16:30 to 17:05–17:15. Anyone who compares closing prices or uses them in contracts should therefore state the trading venue, the product and the applicable version of the procedure. In the German electricity market, the closing price is ultimately the common reference point for trading, hedging and clearing, but not a measure of "the" electricity price as such.

Sources

Verfahren zur Feststellung von Abrechnungspreisen, Version 5.36 — European Energy Exchange AG (EEX); 2026-07-27. Abschnitte 1, 2.1–2.3 und 3.1 (Settlement von finanziellen Strom-Futures)
Trading Forms and Documentation – Settlement Pricing — European Energy Exchange AG (EEX); unbekannt (Verfahren dort mit Datum 2026-07-30 gelistet). Abschnitt Settlement Pricing
Public Contract Specifications (EEX) — European Energy Exchange AG (EEX); 2026-07-23. Abschnitte zu Lastprofilen (Peak, Extended Peak) und Final Settlement Price finanzieller Strom-Futures (laut Suchergebnis-Auszug)
German Power Financial Peak Futures — ICE Endex; unbekannt. Description, Cash Settlement Price
Power Futures – Product Overview — European Energy Exchange AG (EEX); unbekannt. Produktübersicht Power Futures

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Edited by eCMS on 11.11.2026 17:30