Traders tend to talk in terms of the little numbers. If a market is £48.20/£48.50 often both the trader and the broker will quote the market as "20 at 50", dropping the big number. The danger in this lazy form of trading is that for some reason the buyer and seller mix the big numbers up. Interestingly, traders tend not to be so slack when the market is being quoted round the big number for example "90 at 10" is almost never heard (accept in currency trading) when numbers tend not to move that much.

So why is this interesting? At the moment for the first time in 2 years there is not a single baseload contract trading above £50 (Winter 06 is not at the moment being quoted!) and so given that traders have been so used to the big number being £50 + now it is £40 + perhaps more frighteningly Summers are being quoted at £30+. The move down in Winter whilst reflecting the market fundamentals has been more pronounced that the Summer falls. From a volatility perspective the market has seen some serious shocks notably in Summer traditionally a low volatility product which has recently responded much more like winter. In two weeks it will be the prompt season as well and we would expect volatility to rise even further something which has not necessarily been seen for five years.