
European Power Trading: XBID, HFT, Market Coupling & the Future of Intraday | Vincent Thevenin
European intraday power markets are becoming faster, more automated and increasingly interconnected — but is the underlying market infrastructure keeping up? In this episode, Patrick Reynolds speaks with Vincent Thevenin, Market Expert at Montel, about the evolution of European short-term power trading. Drawing on experience across TSOs, physical trading and market design, Vincent discusses the growing challenges facing XBID and continuous intraday trading as algorithmic and higher-frequency activity increases. They explore the role of quant and HFT firms, the liquidity they bring to European power markets, and the infrastructure challenges this creates for TSOs and exchanges. The conversation also covers market coupling and cross-border capacity, passive balancing, data transparency, 5-minute products, renewable integration, and how intraday trading has evolved from predominantly manual trading towards today's highly automated market. Vincent also shares his experience of the early days of automated power trading at 50Hertz and why the next stage of European market design could have significant implications for traders.