Purpose: define a staged, evidence-led route into European wholesale electricity trading for a price-only / prop-style AI system. This plan does not assume physical electricity purchases, power plants, batteries, or guaranteed access to an exchange.

Executive recommendation

Start with research + paper trading + a market-access partner conversation, not direct exchange membership or live trading. Treat the previously discussed €50,000 as a proposed technology validation budget, not as sufficient trading collateral or proof of a profitable strategy.

The existing Financial Plan Outline contains scenario figures and return targets. They are hypotheses for planning, not verified benchmarks or forecasts. Do not present them to investors as expected returns until supported by auditable results, contract terms, and current market-access quotes.

Stage-gate roadmap

Stage 0 — Scope and market feasibility (Weeks 1–3)

Goal: establish what can legally and practically be traded, through which venue/partner, and at what cost.

Work:

• Confirm target products and markets: initially German/Austrian intraday, then decide whether to add day-ahead or other bidding zones.
• Clarify whether the intended product is exchange-traded power contracts or a financial derivative. These are not interchangeable; the regulatory and clearing route may differ.
• Contact EPEX SPOT, Nord Pool, and potential intermediaries / energy trading partners.
• Request written answers on API access, order execution, historical data rights, onboarding, collateral, fees, settlement, counterparty requirements, and whether an external algorithm can trade through their infrastructure.
• Get legal advice on the proposed entity, market role, MiFID II / REMIT / exchange-rule applicability, and whether any financial-services authorization is needed for the actual instrument and business model.

Budget placeholder: €1,000–€3,000 for initial legal / market-access discovery and limited data exploration. Obtain quotes; this is not a verified price list.

Gate to proceed: written access-path comparison, a defined product universe, data licensing terms, and a list of compliance blockers. If there is no viable access path within budget, remain a research/software project or partner with an existing desk.

Stage 1 — Data and research prototype (Weeks 3–8)

Goal: test whether there is enough data to evaluate specific hypotheses.

Work:

• Acquire a minimal, licensed historical dataset for prices and relevant fundamentals.
• Build clean time alignment, timezone / daylight-saving handling, missing-data checks, and a reproducible research pipeline.