Most of the time, hedging a commodity involves entering into a futures contract on a relevant exchange, but what exactly is a futures trade?

For most commodity companies, hedging is not a choice, the concept is ingrained in their trading philosophy in order to protect their margins (and their lenders) against movements in the outright prices of the commodities they trade. But why exactly is this the case?

While the recent spike in CME/LME copper arbitrage has given an opportunity for traders to bank huge profits, the potential for earlier than expected tariffs are causing serious worries.

While some companies like to try and extract additional profits by trading nearby spreads, for most companies borrowing the spread well in advance of futures becoming prompt is the most prudent approach.

An accurate mark-to-market (MTM) ensures traders and businesses always know the real value of their positions. But how does it work, and why does it matter?

We know why traders and consumers turn to the exchange when metal is scarce—tight markets, producer outages, and supply shocks can create an urgent need for material. But here’s the real question: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲?

What’s in it for them?
How do massive amounts of metal suddenly appear on the exchange?
What drives these deliveries?

Warrant deliveries remain one of the most misunderstood (and whispered about) aspects of metal trading. This article breaks it all down—the how, why, and financial incentives behind these moves.

Hedged repos can be a great tool for all of those in the commodity supply chain to reduce stress on bank lines and margin accounts.

Is Bitcoin really a hedge against traditional financial markets? This article explores the relationship between Bitcoin and some major traditional investments.

Buy the rumor, sell the news - a reliable trading strategy?

Some of the world’s most powerful oil traders, including Gunvor, Vitol, and Mercuria, are now aggressively expanding into metals.
Why? Because as oil market volatility stabilises, metals present a massive opportunity—especially with the energy transition fuelling soaring demand.
Copper shortages could reach 10 million metric tons by 2035.
Lithium, nickel, and rare earth minerals are under immense supply pressure.
Geopolitical shifts are reshaping global trade flows.
But metals trading isn’t for the faint of heart.
Margins are compressing, fraud remains a major risk, and only those with deep expertise will thrive.
So, what does it take to succeed in this evolving market?

This is a question I’ve often asked myself, and I still don’t have a completely convincing answer. Unlike other refined metals like copper, zinc, and lead—where you must trade the physical metal to capture changes in premiums—𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗺 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Hedging is often viewed as a pure risk management tool—something used by companies looking to avoid outright price exposure. But can speculators hedge too?

In this article we discuss some of the impacts of the rising aluminum premiums.

One of the biggest fears companies have about hedging is getting caught in a 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, which can impact profitability. But avoiding hedging due to this fear can expose businesses to even greater risks.

In physical commodity contracts, back-pricings exists when the quotational period (QP) offers at least two pricing options. Crucially, the QP’s declaration date must fall after at least one of the pricing periods has passed.

Sometimes there are simple solutions that solve multi-layered problems. I thought of one such example that could have a dramatic impact on US commodities, inflation, and fuel consumption, among other issues: Truck Capacities

If you read posts on LinkedIn you will see there is a near-constant debate surrounding technical analysis (TA) vs. fundamental trading, here we discuss both approaches.

We are extremely fortunate that for base metals, there are multiple highly liquid exchanges that allow companies to hedge their price risk. However, this is not the case for all commodities, and even within base metals there are varying levels of liquidity.

Let's take a look at what some companies assume is the best way to handle their underlying price risk - a 'natural' hedge. In fact, a true natural hedge is not common and most of these companies are actually speculating on prices, rather than mitigating their risks.

Over the past year we have seen repeated cases of fraud in the commodities industry, ranging from small cases all the way up to billion dollar crimes. Often the key to these cases of fraud stems from a fake or doctored title documents, but what exactly is a title document. This article explores what title documents are and what can go wrong.