MCX to Launch Electricity Futures for August to October 2025; Trading Begins July 10

July 7, 2025 – The Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) will introduce monthly base load electricity futures contracts for August, September, and October 2025. Trading is scheduled to begin on July 10, 2025. This launch marks a significant step toward strengthening risk management tools for India’s evolving power market.

Key Features of the Electricity Futures Contracts

MCX’s new offering aims to provide structured price risk management through cash-settled electricity futures, benchmarked against prices from the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX). Here are the contract specifics:

• Trading Units: 50 MWh per contract
• Contract Expiry Dates:
  • August: August 29, 2025
  • September: September 29, 2025
  • October: October 30, 2025
• Trading Days and Hours: Monday to Friday, from 9:00 AM to 11:30 PM (extended till 11:55 PM during US daylight saving time)
• Price Quotation: In ₹ per MWh (excluding taxes)
• Tick Size: ₹1 per MWh
• Max Order Size: 2,500 MWh
• Daily Price Limits: SEBI rules apply with slabs of 6%, 3% (enhanced), and a 9% aggregate cap
• Contracts will expire one business day before the last calendar day of the expiry month. Trading will close at 12:00 PM on the expiry day.

Margin Requirements and Settlement Process

• Initial Margin: 10% or SPAN-based margin, whichever is higher
• Additional Margins: May be levied under volatile market conditions
• Settlement: Daily marked-to-market based on Daily Settlement Price (DSP); final settlement is cash-based using the volume-weighted average of IEX’s Day Ahead Market (DAM) prices in the expiry month

Participation Limits

• Clients: Maximum open position of 3 lakh MWh or 5% of market-wide interest (whichever is higher)
• Members: Capped at 30 lakh MWh or 20% of the market-wide open interest
• These limits apply across all clients and contracts combined.

MCX Share Price Movement

MCX shares were trading at ₹8,870 on the morning of July 7, 2025, showing a marginal dip of 0.11% as of 10:49 AM IST. Despite the slight pullback, the stock has had a strong run, rising 19.5% over the past month and more than doubling with a 122.54% surge in the past year.

Conclusion

MCX’s introduction of electricity futures is a major step toward bringing India’s physical and financial power markets closer together. With strong regulatory support and a clear contract structure in place, the exchange is aiming to give power producers, distribution companies, and large consumers better tools to manage price fluctuations in today’s fast-changing energy environment. It also seeks to enhance liquidity and transparency in energy derivatives trading, offering institutional participants a structured entry point into the electricity market.

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