The London Metal Exchange is the world centre for industrial metals trading.
Most of the world’s non-ferrous metals business is conducted on our three trading platforms: LMEselect (electronic), the Ring (open outcry) and the 24-hour telephone market.
In 2021, 145 million lots were traded at the LME equating to $15.6 trillion and 3.3 billion tonnes notional with a market open interest (MOI) high of 2.1 million lots. Trading on the LME often exceeds world metal production by a factor of 40.
The global metal community uses the LME to trade futures and options to hedge against adverse price movements – prices which are discovered on our markets and used as the global reference.
Participants can trade six different types of contract against a wide number of non-ferrous, ferrous, precious and EV metals on a choice of three platforms.
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We always strive to improve services for existing users of the market whilst reaching out to new participants with new ideas and new products. Here’s a selection of our latest offerings.
LMEpassport, a key component of the LME’s drive for a more sustainable future, is a new system that does away with paper certificates of analysis and provides the market with a new voluntary register of a metal’s sustainability credentials.
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