Short Market Update, I.

01.05-06.05.2026

I’m working on a post for Saturday about what we mean by ‘trading desk’ in the energy domain. In the mean-time, here’s an experimental new format: a short-market update where I try not to get carried away. Modulo some editing, it’s directly out of the agent-box. It takes some getting used to. It’s not ‘cheating.’ It’s a different kind of effort. The setup takes a lot of watering and feeding. Remember Tamagotchis? The updates should be useful for a sense of evolving shape. The parallel challenge is to make this format better and better out of the box. ‘Short market updates’ might thus function as an ongoing benchmark. Do let me know your feedback, and I’ll be sure to pass it on.

Labour Day was a test-case for one kind of stress scenario: low demand, strong solar, a deep day-ahead lower tail, expensive downward reserve readiness, and ID-AEP/SPARX dislocation from the expected story.