NordSearch Podcast

What makes Australia's electricity market different from Europe, and where are the biggest opportunities for power trading firms?

In this episode of the NordSearch Podcast, Patrick Reynolds speaks with Andrew Koscharsky, Head of Australia at InCommodities, about the evolution of Australian power trading and the firm's expansion across Asia-Pacific.

Andrew discusses the unique characteristics of Australia's five-minute electricity market, the growth of battery trading and why automated optimisation strategies still require human judgement.

They also explore how geopolitical events and Donald Trump's tweets influence European power markets compared with Australia, the potential impact of AI data centres on electricity demand, and why more international quantitative trading firms haven't entered the Australian market.

The conversation also covers the balance between quantitative models and fundamental trading expertise, building high-performing trading teams and the opportunities emerging in Japan and other Asian electricity markets.

A fascinating discussion on the future of power trading in Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

After 50+ conversations with some of the leading traders, founders, CEOs and Heads of Trading in the power markets, the NordSearch Podcast is doing something different.

In this special solo episode, NordSearch founder Patrick Reynolds reflects on the biggest lessons and recurring themes from the first 50 episodes of the podcast.

The episode explores what separates the best power traders, where sustainable trading edge really comes from, and how the role of the trader is evolving as power markets become increasingly systematic.

It also covers the rise of algo trading and AI, the relationship between discretionary and systematic trading, why human judgement still matters, and what NordSearch has learned about building successful trading teams and cultures.

Topics include:

- What makes a great power trader?

- Where does sustainable trading edge come from?

- Is discretionary trading being replaced by algorithms?

- How is AI actually being used in power trading?

- What will the trader of the future look like?

- What does it take to build a successful algo trading desk?

- What separates the highest-performing trading teams?

One theme runs throughout the episode: edge isn’t static.

Markets change. Technology changes. Competition changes. Strategies become crowded.

The question isn’t simply where does your edge come from today?

It’s why will that edge still exist tomorrow?

Three years. 50+ episodes. One episode bringing together the biggest lessons from leaders across the power trading industry.

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.

For Episode 50 of the NordSearch Podcast, Patrick Reynolds is joined by Christian Togsverd, Co-founder & CEO of Tilde Energy Trading.

Christian has one of the most unusual backgrounds in European power trading. Before entering energy markets, he was a professional poker player, competing at the World Series of Poker and learning first-hand about risk, expected value and decision-making under uncertainty.

He went on to build experience across gas, carbon, quantitative trading and HFT before co-founding Tilde Energy Trading — a new systematic trading firm looking to combine the best of the Danish power trading model with techniques from the HFT and proprietary trading world.

In this episode, Patrick and Christian discuss:

• The lessons professional poker can teach traders about risk and decision-making
• Christian's journey from poker and sports betting into quantitative trading
• The differences between Danish power trading and HFT-style trading
• Why competition is pushing intraday power towards continuous markets and market making
• Why execution is becoming increasingly important
• How Tilde is building a highly automated, systematic trading business
• How AI allows a small trading firm to operate with significantly more leverage
• Using AI for infrastructure, research, operations and alpha generation
• Why AI alone isn't enough to build profitable trading strategies
• The danger of overfitting AI-generated strategies
• How Tilde thinks about AI model and token costs
• Cloud infrastructure versus on-premise systems
• Tilde's ambitions across power, gas and derivatives
• Building a collaborative, high-performance trading culture

Christian also explains why Tilde believes the current generation of AI tools creates an enormous advantage for a startup: allowing a small team to build infrastructure, automate operational work and iterate on trading ideas far faster than would previously have been possible.

A fascinating conversation on where quantitative power trading is heading and a fitting guest for Episode 50 of the NordSearch Podcast.

Patrick Reynolds speaks with Christian Montes from BD Energy about building AI-driven power trading strategies, expanding into US markets, and why finding an edge in Europe has become increasingly difficult.

The conversation covers machine learning, quantitative research, risk management, AI agents, market efficiency, and what the future of algorithmic power trading could look like.

Returning guest Casper Sønderby, CEO & Co-Founder of twig, joins the NordSearch Podcast to discuss how AI is reshaping power trading.

We cover twig's expansion across Europe, the US and Japan, why they prioritise hiring machine learning engineers over traditional traders, their investment in an AI data centre, and why execution is becoming the industry's biggest competitive advantage.

In this episode, we go behind the scenes at MFT Energy, a company that has transformed from a Danish startup into a global Energy Trading powerhouse . Based in the heart of Aarhus often called the Energy Valley MFT Energy is proving that a unique culture and a bold partnership model can disrupt the global markets.

CEO and Partner Bo Palmgren explains how MFT scales its operations across New York, Singapore, Istanbul, and beyond. We discuss the logistics of the "24/7 virtual handover," why they prioritize "Grit" over pure intellect, and how Aarhus became the global epicenter for energy talent.

Inside this episode:

The Energy Valley Advantage: Why Aarhus is the perfect ecosystem for energy trading.

Going Global: The challenges of opening offices in Singapore and the US.

The Ownership Mindset: How MFT’s partner model creates "entrepreneurs, not employees."

The 24/7 Life: Managing a global business without burning out the team.

AI is driving a massive surge in power demand but there’s one major problem: the grid isn’t ready.In this episode, Patrick Reynolds sits down with Stephan Dinser (Head of Industry Origination at Vattenfall) to break down how the energy market is changing and why infrastructure, not generation, could be the biggest bottleneck for the future of AI.They explore how corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs) are evolving into critical long-term hedging tools, why energy costs are putting Europe at a disadvantage, and how increasing volatility is reshaping the way businesses think about power.This conversation connects AI, energy, and global competitiveness and what it means for the future of power markets.

“There should be no reason that a trader understands the market better than a machine that knows all the rules.”

Patrick speaks with Jacob Hansen, CEO & Co-founder of Aro Inc, about building an AI-first intraday power trading company from scratch.

Coming from a software and data background including helping scale Nordic challenger bank Luna from 13 to 700 people. Jacob shares how Aro is approaching power trading differently from traditional trading firms.

They discuss fully automated trading infrastructure, AI-assisted strategy research, rapid deployment of new trading strategies, and why small, highly technical teams may have an advantage over larger incumbents.

One particularly interesting insight from the conversation was Aro’s internal goal of eventually getting from:

idea to live strategy in production within one day.

Jacob also explains why they believe AI agents could soon be capable of developing viable trading strategies themselves with humans remaining responsible for validation and risk management.

A fascinating conversation on the future of intraday power trading, automation, AI, and how new entrants are challenging the traditional energy trading model.

A must-listen for professionals in power trading, algorithmic trading, AI, and energy markets.

The future of Power trading is fully automated.

Patrick speaks with Edoardo Simioni, Chief Trading Officer at Reel, about building a fully automated Power trading business.

They explore intraday trading, PPAs, and how combining asset optimisation with trading creates scalable business models. Edoardo shares insights on market opportunities and how automation and AI are reshaping trading teams.

Most algo trading systems don’t fail because of models.

Patrick speaks with Steffen Krutzinna, founder of PX Dynamics, about intraday power trading and algorithmic trading strategies.

They break down how successful trading systems are built, common mistakes in data and execution, and why having a clear trading edge is critical in competitive energy markets.

AI is already reshaping energy trading.

Patrick speaks with Max Lüddemann, Co-founder & CTO of Trawa, about how AI and automation are transforming energy trading.

They explore real-time optimisation, algorithmic trading, and how technology is changing electricity procurement and market participation.

Energy markets are more fragile than they look.

Patrick speaks with Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, Head of Research at GRM, about global energy markets and price volatility.

They discuss gas markets, LNG dynamics, geopolitical risk, and how recent events are impacting European power markets.

Great trading desks are built, not hired.

Patrick speaks with Navin Parasram, Head of Trading at Alpiq, about leading a high-performing power trading organisation.

They explore trading strategy, risk management, and how successful desks are structured.

The real edge in Europe isn’t where most people look.

Patrick speaks with Gašper Rugelj, Head of Algorithmic Trading at GEN-I, about intraday power trading and Eastern European energy markets.

They discuss algorithmic trading strategies, cross-border electricity flows, and how local market dynamics create trading opportunities.

Renewables aren’t just about climate they’re about independence.

Patrick speaks with Amir Roughani, Founder & CEO of Vispiron, about building hybrid power plants and scaling renewable energy businesses.

They explore how combining solar, wind, batteries, hydrogen, and industrial demand creates fully integrated energy systems, and why optimising the entire value chain from development to trading is key to long-term success.

Amir also shares his perspective on the energy transition, market dynamics in Germany, and why adaptability is critical in an increasingly complex energy market.

Manual battery trading is already obsolete.

Patrick speaks with Ioannis Boukas, Head of Algorithmic Trading for Batteries & Renewables at ENGIE, about scaling algorithmic trading inside a major utility.

They discuss battery optimisation, intraday trading, and how large-scale assets are traded across multiple markets. Ioannis explains why automation, data, and infrastructure are now critical to performance.

The conversation also covers building algo trading desks, integrating with manual teams, and the future of battery trading as competition increases.

Patrick Reynolds - Founder of NordSearch

Patrick Reynolds - Founder of NordSearch

Patrick Reynolds - Founder of NordSearch