LME Aluminium is underpinned by high-grade primary aluminium that meets the London Metal Exchange's approved physical specifications for quality, shape, storage and delivery. All aluminium delivered against an LME contract must be produced by an LME-approved brand and stored in an LME-approved warehouse.
This physical metal can be traded through futures which are physically deliverable and allow participants to manage price risk, gain market exposure or engage in delivery of metal. Standard LME options settle into an LME futures contract. Market participants also have a variety of financially settled products at their disposal such monthly average futures (MAFs), Traded average price options (TAPOs) and LMEmini contracts.
More information
For full contract specification details, please refer to the LME Rulebook and our disclaimer page:
| Quality | Primary aluminium with impurities no greater than the chemical composition of one of the registered designations: P1020A in the North American and International Registration Record entitled “International Designations and Chemical Composition Limits for Unalloyed Aluminum” (revised January 2018) Al99.70 in the GB/T 1196-2017 Standard entitled “Unalloyed aluminium ingots for remelting” For warrants created up to and including 31 December 2009 primary aluminium of minimum 99.70% purity with maximum permissible iron content 0.20% and maximum permissible silicon content 0.10%. |
| Shape | Ingots, t-bars, sows |
| Lot size |
25 tonnes |
| Warrant |
25 tonnes (with a tolerance of +/-2%) |
| Brands |
All aluminium deliverable against LME contracts must be of an LME-approved brand. |
| Warehousing | All aluminium deliverable against LME contracts must be stored in an LME approved warehouse. |
Available LME Aluminium Contracts
The following contracts are available on LME Aluminium.
The benchmark LME Aluminium futures contract provides the ability to buy or sell 25 tonnes of aluminium for delivery on a specified future date – the prompt date. It is physically settled and forms the underlying contract for several related products.
For more information on futures contracts please see our futures page.
| Contract code | AH | ||
| Underlying metal | High grade primary aluminium | ||
| Lot size | 25 tonnes | ||
| Prompt dates | Daily: out to 3 months Weekly: 3 out to 6 months Monthly: 7 out to 123 months |
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| Price quotation | US dollars per tonne | ||
| Clearable currencies | US dollar, Japanese yen, sterling, euro | ||
| Minimum price fluctuation (tick size) per tonne | Outright | Carries | |
| Ring | $0.50 | $0.01 | |
| LMEselect | $0.50 | $0.01* | |
| Inter-office | $0.01 | $0.01 | |
| Last trading day | Up until the close of the first Ring the day before the prompt date | ||
| Settlement type | Physical | ||
| Trading venues | Ring, LMEselect, inter-office telephone | ||
| Margining | Contingent variation margin applied | ||
*Certain spread instruments will have different tick sizes. For detailed information, please refer to our tick sizes page.
Options contracts give the buyer of the contract the right but not the obligation to buy (call option) or sell (put option) a futures contract at a set price. The buyer pays a premium for this right . The underlying instrument is the third-Wednesday LME Aluminium futures contract..
For more information on futures contracts please see our options page.
| Contract code | AH |
| Underlying metal | High grade primary aluminium |
| Lot size | 25 tonnes |
| Contract months | Monthly out to 63 months |
| Underlying contract | LME Aluminium futures - third Wednesday prompt of the contract month |
| Price quotation | US dollars per tonne |
| Clearable currencies | US dollar, Japanese yen, sterling, euro |
| Option style | American |
| Trading deadlines |
Tuesday before the first Wednesday of the prompt month: • Last trading time- by 18.00 • Last matching and registration- by 18.15 |
| Expiry date/time |
Any LME business day up to and including the first Wednesday of the expiring option month, from 07.30 up to: • 11.15 for clearing members • 11.10 for clients |
| Minimum price fluctuation (tick size) |
$0.01 per tonne |
| Strike price intervals |
• $25 - for strikes from $25 to $9,975 • $50 - for strikes from $10,000 to $19,950 • $100 - for all strikes over $20,000 |
| Exercise of option |
Option exercise is a manual process. LME Clear auto-exercise in the money options that are equal to or greater than two strikes above and two strikes below the at-the-money strike, as determined by the end of day valuation price of the relevant third Wednesday prompt of the contract month, on the evening before the first Wednesday expiry day. There is manual exercise for the remaining close-to-the-money options. Options exercise will result in a third Wednesday futures contract. |
| Payment terms | One business day following the trade day |
| Settlement type | Physical |
| Trading venues | Ring, inter-office telephone and LMEselect (as a delta hedged option only) |
Financially settled contracts based on the Monthly Average Settlement Price (MASP) of LME Aluminium. The MASP is the average of the daily LME Official Settlement Prices throughout the contract month. These contracts allow participants to hedge or gain exposure to monthly average prices rather than a single prompt date.
For more information on MAFs contracts please see MAFs page.
| Contract code | OA |
| Contract months | Monthly out to 63 months |
| Price quotation | US dollars per tonne |
| Clearable currencies | US dollars |
| Averaging period | The number of business days in a calendar month |
| Final settlement day | Two business days after the averaging month |
| Settlement price | The settlement price is the Monthly Average Settlement Price (MASP) which is the average of the daily LME Official Cash Settlement Prices of the relevant metal over the number of business days |
| Payment terms | Payment on the final settlement day (two good business days following the final day of the averaging period) via PPS |
| Trading days | Based on current LME trading calendar |
| Last trading day/time | The last business day of the month, before the start of the second Ring at 12.30 |
| Minimum price fluctuation (tick size) | $0.01 per tonne |
| Daily closing price | The Notional Average Price (NAP) of the relevant metal is used to daily mark to market |
| Settlement type | Financial |
| Trading venues | LMEselect and the inter-office telephone market |
Exchange-traded and cleared options that settle financially against the Monthly Average Settlement Price (MASP) of LME Aluminium. The MASP is the average of the daily LME Official Settlement Prices throughout the contract month.
For more information on TAPOs contracts please see out TAPOs page.
| Contract code | AH |
| Underlying metal | P1020A high grade primary aluminium |
| Lot size | 25 tonnes |
| Contract months | Monthly out to 63 months |
| Underlying contract | LME Aluminium futures - the average of the cash prompts for each business day of the contract month |
| Price quotation | US dollars per tonne |
| Clearable currencies | US dollars |
| Option style | Asian |
| Trading deadlines | The business day preceding the declaration day of the relevant prompt month: • Last trading time- by 18.00 • Last matching and registration- by 18.15 |
| Expiry date/time | Automatic declaration of in-the-money TAPOs at 15.00 on the last business day of the TAPO month |
| Minimum price fluctuation (tick size) | $0.01 per tonne |
| Strike price interval | $1 |
| Exercise of option | LME Clear auto exercise TAPOs. Exercise will result in two futures contracts, one at the strike price and the other at the Monthly Average Settlement Price (MASP). This has the same economic effect as cash settlement two business days after the last trading day of the contract month. |
| Settlement type | Financial |
| Trading venues | Ring, inter-office telephone and LMEselect (as a delta hedged option only) |
A smaller-sized, cash-settled contract designed for participants seeking lower contract sizes
For more information on LMEmini contracts please see our LMEminis page.
| Contract code | MA |
| Underlying metal | High grade primary aluminium |
| Lot size | 5 metric tonnes |
| Prompt date | Third Wednesday of each maturity month, subject to trading regulations |
| Maturity months | Monthly out to for 12 months |
| Price quotation | US dollars |
| Clearable currency | US dollar |
| Last trading time | By 12.30 two business days before the third Wednesday of the contract month trading in the expiring contract |
| Daily price limit | None |
| Position limit | None |
| Minimum price fluctuation (tick size) | • Outright - $0.50 • Carries - $0.01 |
| Settlement type | Cash settled on the last trading day basis the Official Cash Settlement Price determined for the prompt date for the relevant underlying metal |
| Trading venues | LMEselect and inter-office telephone |
TAS functionality allows market participants to trade relative to the aluminium closing price, providing additional flexibility around end-of-day price execution.
For more information on TAS contracts please see our TAS page.
| Underlying Contract | LME Primary Aluminium |
| Description | An LME TAS (trade-at-settlement) order type allows a trader to enter an order to buy or sell a contract (during the course of the trading day) at a price that is equal to, or a number of $0.10 ticks above or below the 3-month Closing Price |
| Contract Code | AH |
| Price Code | TC (Trade at Close) |
| Tick size | $0.10 |
| Price band | Initially, 25 ticks above and below zero |
| Lot size | 25 metric tonnes |
| Trading window | 01.00 - 16.30 |
| Reference price | LME Aluminium 3-month Closing Price |
| Settlement type | Into underlying 3-month LME Aluminium future |