The London Metal Exchange has launched Release 2 of its screen trading system - LME Select - making it possible for member firms to trade electronically.
LME Select provides for all futures and options trading across standard dates, as well as having the capability to develop bespoke "tailor-made" carries for non-standard dates, and to put those in the central order book. In all, LME Select has the capacity to offer more than 7000 variants of its non-ferrous metals futures and traded options contracts.
Additionally, the system gives member firms automatic matching and clearing through an interface with the London Clearing House.
Simon Heale, LME chief executive Simon Heale, says: "This system gives our member firms the reassurance that whatever way trading develops in the future the LME is able to provide for it."
He says the Exchange recently received the go-ahead for trading via LME Select in Japan and South Africa. "Some members have already installed the system in their US offices and are trading from there. We expect to receive regulatory approval from other countries over the next few months," says Heale.
Release 2 upgrades a stripped-down version of the LME Select system, which was put into operation to mark the exchange's entry into the electronic marketplace.