Getting Started as a Buyer on the DTN Exchange
DTN Exchange is a private marketplace where sellers and buyers can come together to make trades that benefit both parties.
DTN Exchange is administered by DTN. We authorize accounts for new buyers and sellers, and provide training and support. If questions and issues arise, we help resolve them.
Sellers use DTN Exchange to make offers to authorized partner buyers. Buyers use DTN Exchange to view seller offers, and to accept offers at the seller’s price or submit a bid for a different price. Sellers receive a notification from DTN Exchange that their offer has been accepted and a trade made. If a bid has been submitted, the seller can use DTN Exchange to view the bid and then accept or decline it.
Trades can be made on prompt offers for currently available products at the currently published real-time price, and on forward contracts for products that will be available on specified months, for specified quantities, and for a specified price in the future.
Before making an offer, sellers use DTN Exchange to define the products they are selling and the terminals where those products can be lifted. Sellers can tie their pricing rules to a real-time index or keep their price at a flat rate.
Sellers also authorize the buyers with whom they will do trades. New buyers can send a request through DTN Exchange to indicate the seller with which they would like to trade. Alternatively, the seller can notify DTN about any new buyers to be authorized.
Ways to purchase fuel
There are three types of fuel purchases you can make on DTN Exchange:
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Prompt Offers represent offers from partner sellers on currently available products at the currently published real-time price.
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Forward Offers represent offers from partner sellers on products that will be available on specified months, for specified quantities, and for a specified price in the future. The quantities and price per gallon for product may be the same or differ from month to month. They must be consecutive months.
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Flex offers represent a multi-month Forward Market Order. The buyer specifies an amount of product to be purchased as well as a sequential month range for which they can pull product.
Within each of these three types, there are two ways you can make a fuel purchases on the Exchange:
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Market Orders submit an order on a product from a partner seller at the seller’s offered price. Once the order is placed and other requirements are met, the trade is matched and becomes final.
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Prompt Market Order: an order for currently available product at the currently published real-time price as offered by a seller partner.
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Forward Market Order: an order for products available for specified amounts and a specified price per gallon on consecutive future months, as offered by a seller partner.
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Flex Market Order: an order for products available for specified amounts and a specified price per gallon on non-consecutive future months, as offered by a seller partner.
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Bids allows you to submit a price lower than the seller’s offer. It is up to the seller to accept or deny the bid. If the trade price comes down to your bid price and the seller’s requirements are met, a market order is automatically placed instead.
Where to purchase fuel
Here are the following pages that you can make Market Orders or Bids:
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Prompt Offers: Buyer > Prompt Offers > Offers/Orders
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Forward Offers: Buyer > Forward Offers > Offers/Orders
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Flex Offers: Buyer > Flex Offers > Offers/Order
Market Orders versus Bids
Market Orders
Market Orders are used for placing an order at the same price as offered by the partner seller. Buyers can place a market order at the seller’s offer price, as long as the following requirements are met:
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The seller has set the offer to be available for market orders.
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The order quantity must be equal to or greater than the minimum order quantity set by the seller.
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The order quantity is in the increments that have been specified by the seller.
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The seller must have sufficient inventory to fill the order.
NOTE: If the seller does not have adequate inventory listed on DTN Exchange to fill a market order, the buyer has the option to place a bid for the seller’s remaining inventory. The bid price on the remaining inventory is determined by the seller’s current offer price. Once a trade is matched, it can only be canceled through DTN Exchange by the seller.
Once you have confirmed your market order, the trade happens instantly. DTN Exchange system performs the following:
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Updates the Status column on the Manage Bids tab to match.
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Sends a trade notification of the matched trades to both the buyer and seller.
Bids
You can bid below the seller’s offer price to take advantage of a softening market or quantity discounts. The status of a bid is active on DTN Exchange until it matches or meets the expiration date and time that you specified when creating the bid. Once the bid has been accepted the status becomes matched. While the status is active, you can edit or cancel the bid.
Depending on how the seller has set up their DTN Exchange, a bid can match into a market order when either the seller chooses to accept the bid manually, or when the seller’s offer price moves down to equal the bid price.
Matching logic for Market Orders
DTN Exchange® applies matching logic on market orders and bids.
DTN Exchange rules for market orders are similar to those accepted for stock market trading. That is, your order is matched at the most current price recorded at the time the order is confirmed. This may be higher or lower than the seller’s offer price you saw online and for which you placed a market order.
This variance occurs because there is a slight time difference between the price displayed on the page and the price when the order is confirmed. During this interval, the market may remain steady, or it may go up or down. In most cases, the seller’s offer price is tied to the market. That means when the market goes up, the seller’s offer price goes up. Likewise, when the market goes down, the seller’s offer price goes down. DTN Exchange matches your order at the most current price recorded, even if it is different than the price with which you began your order process.
Note: Remember to complete your market order once you begin. This makes sure you receive the current prices.
Matching logic for Bids
Bids are matched into trades depending on how the seller has set up their DTN Exchange.
In a softening market, when a seller’s offer price moves down and reaches the buyer’s bid price, DTN Exchange can automatically match at the bid price.
The second way a bid can be matched is when a seller manually accepts a bid price from a buyer.
Inadequate inventory logic
If the seller doesn’t have adequate inventory listed on DTN Exchange to fill a market order, you can’t place a market order or submit a bid.