How to become an energy trader in 2026
The actual path: graduate schemes, sell-side desks, prop shops, the skills that matter and the ones that don't. From someone who's hired both sides.
Live · Weekdays 8:00 GMT
The market open, decoded daily.
Energy, equities and the macro and micro stories that move them, explained by someone who has traded commodity markets. Markets to Freedom is the daily show covering geopolitics, economic data, analysis and the experts shaping it all, built to help you reach financial independence.
25+
Years in energy markets
5
Live shows per week
1
Goal: your freedom
25 years on the desk
Refinitiv
Shell
Gazprom Marketing & Trading
ICIS
Enmacc
Weekly schedule
Every weekday, before the bell.
One hour. The macro story, the energy complex, and the trade ideas that shape your day. Live at 08:00 GMT, replay any time.
Monday
Weekly setup
The week's catalysts: data prints, central bank speakers, energy inventories and the OPEC calendar.
Tuesday
Energy deep dive
Oil, gas and power. Where the curve is mispriced and what the desks are positioning for.
Wednesday
Macro Wednesday
Inflation, rates and currencies. How the energy complex reads through to the broader macro picture.
Thursday
Trader interview
One guest. One book. Real lessons from people who have moved markets, not pundits.
Friday
Freedom Friday
The long game: building wealth, structuring income and getting closer to the optionality of full financial independence.
Featured episode
Why the European power curve is lying to you.
Reading the German baseload curve in 2026
The forward curve says one thing, the storage data says another and the gas-to-power spark spread is signalling a third. We walk through how to read all three together, the way a desk actually does, and what it means for your portfolio.
Listen to the episodeFrom the desk
Long-form analysis, written by someone who's traded it.
No noise. The articles below are the kind of work product I used to send to clients, now public and free.
Energy trading salary guide: UK 2026
Base, bonus and total comp at every level: junior trader to head of desk. Plus what gets you paid versus what gets you stuck.
What is carbon trading and how does it work?
EU ETS, UK ETS, voluntary credits, CBAM. A working trader's explanation of how carbon prices are actually set, and where the real money is made.
European power markets explained for beginners
Day-ahead, intraday, balancing, capacity. What each market does, who trades them and how prices are actually formed across the interconnected European grid.
5 steps to financial independence through market knowledge
Why understanding markets, not picking stocks, is what actually compounds into freedom. The framework I'd give my younger self.
All articles
The full library: career, energy markets, macro and the financial independence essays. Updated weekly.
Rukes Ahmed
Energy markets veteran · 25 years
I've spent a quarter century inside energy markets: a trader at Gazprom and Shell, a senior executive at ICIS, Global Head at Refinitiv. I've seen what actually moves prices, who actually makes money and how the people who got out early did it.
Markets to Freedom is the show I wish I'd had at 25. Daily, plain-spoken, written from the desk, not the lecture hall.
- Global Head, Energy at Refinitiv
- Senior Executive at ICIS
- Energy Trader at Gazprom Marketing & Trading
- Energy Trader at Shell
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