The futures trading of copper began at 1877, and there are two kinds of copper traded:
Negative grade copper: Grade A copper
Copper bar: The specification standard is Grade A copper, and the weight is between 1 10- 125 kg.
Among them, the trading of cathode copper is the most active. All delivered copper must have Grade A copper approved by the London Stock Exchange, which conforms to the British BS 6017-1981standard classification specification.
The contract rules for Class A electrolytic copper are as follows:
The contract quantity unit is 25 tons.
Quote USD/ton
The lowest range of price fluctuation is 0.5 USD/ton.
The delivery date is any trading day within three months.
Three to fifteen months is the third Wednesday of every month.
The trading time is 2: 00- 12: 05.
12: 30- 12: 35 (official quotation)
15:30- 15:35
16: 15- 16:20
At present, LME has 14 member companies. Member brokerage companies can be self-employed, or they can be clients in trading agent. Unlike other exchanges, the LME three-month futures contract is a continuous contract, so it is delivered every day. LME has set a lower limit for discounts in spot copper. The spot discount for March copper should not be less than $30. On the contrary, the spot premium can be unlimited. In addition, LME has no price limit.