Many commodity exchanges operate worldwide, and each exchange specializes in certain commodities. The following tables introduce you to some of the key players in the United States and abroad.
Key U.S. players in commodities
The main commodity exchanges in the United States are located in New York and Chicago, with a few other exchanges in other parts of the country. The following table lists the major commodity exchanges in the United States, along with some of the commodities traded in each one.
| Exchange Name | Commodities Traded |
|---|---|
| Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) | Corn, ethanol, gold, oats, rice, silver, soybeans, wheat |
| Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) | Butter, milk, feeder cattle, frozen pork bellies, lean hogs, live cattle, lumber |
| Intercontinental Exchange* (ICE) | Crude oil, electricity, natural gas |
| Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) | Wheat, natural gas |
| Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGE) | Corn, soybeans, wheat |
| New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) | Cocoa, coffee, cotton, ethanol, frozen concentrated orange juice, sugar |
| New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) | Aluminum, copper, crude oil, electricity, gasoline, gold, heating oil, natural gas, palladium, platinum, propane, silver |
* The Intercontinental Exchange is one of the only exchanges without a physical trading floor — all orders are routed and matched electronically. It is, in fact, one of the only all-electronic exchanges.
Keep in mind that this table covers only a small sampling of the commodities that these exchanges offer. The CME, for example, offers more than 100 futures products.
The technical name for a commodity exchange is designated contract market (DCM). DCM is a designation handed out by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to exchanges that offer commodity products to the public. If an exchange does not have the designation DCM, stay away from it!
A sampling of international commodity exchanges
Although the bulk of commodity trading is done in the United States — the largest consumer market of commodities — there are commodity exchanges located in other countries. The following table lists some of these international commodity exchanges.
| Exchange Name | Country | Commodities Traded |
|---|---|---|
| European Energy Exchange | Germany | Electricity |
| London Metal Exchange | United Kingdom | Aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin, zinc |
| Natural Gas Exchange | Canada | Natural gas |
| Tokyo Commodity Exchange | Japan | Aluminum, crude oil, gasoline, gold, kerosene, palladium, platinum, rubber, silver |