There are a lot of quant groups who trade financial products in power, and that’s great – more power to them. If you’re a math whiz, shoot for them. However, I don’t believe that these groups truly understand the fundamentals of the markets as well as physical participants do, and they “blow up” a lot more. IMO, starting in physical is a good way to develop fundamental understanding that makes one a better financial trader.

Unless you already have the analytical background, market analysis or relationship links then go into another related area of energy trading – risk management, logistics, back-office, market interaction and learn the basic key processes, interfaces, entities etc. Then work your way towards understanding the origination of the trades and the market needs of a client in a commodity. Then get close to the trading business and seek to make the change when an opening comes up. I assume you’re talking physical energy trading (power, gas fuels, emissions etc). If you’re talking non-physical speculative trading in the UK you’ll need FSA accreditation which will be a second step.

There does seem to be a gap in good training programs/boot camps that teach the different dimensions of energy trading – proprietary trading, derivatives (greek) arbitrage, supply management, physical arbitrage, balancing and scheduleing, transportation and storage – but there are a few light courses out there.

My recommendation is to get a job as an analyst on a trading desk that fits the type of trader you want to be, and pay your dues for two years – while studying risk management, analytics and the markets aggressively.

Also, interview different types of traders to see how they got there.