Photo courtesy of Norsk Hydro
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has called 2025 its strongest year ever for futures and options volumes, reporting its futures and options average daily volume (ADV) in 2025 reached more than 717,300 lots, up 7.9 percent compared with ADV in 2024.
The LME finished the year strong, with its fourth-quarter ADV being its highest on record, averaging more than 777,000 lots each day. The previous quarterly high was set in the second quarter of 2014, when more than 735,600 lots were traded daily.
The LME primary aluminum contract remained its most active in 2025. Last year, it maintained an ADV of more than 268,000 lots, representing a 2.2 percent increase from the 262,390 ADV in 2024.
“Market participants have increasingly turned to the LME to manage their price risk in this period of geopolitical uncertainty and supply tightness,” says LME CEO Matthew Chamberlain.
In a recap of its 2025 activity, 14 new brands of metal were listed on the LME. Of those, six were for lead, four were for copper, three were for nickel and one was for cobalt.
At the end of 2025, more than 2,220 sustainability disclosures were filed with the exchange, which can include descriptions of recycled content. That figure is up from fewer than 1,000 such disclosures at the end of December 2024, according to the LME.
Latest from Recycling Today
- North Carolina county receives FRC foam recycling grant
- Cascades tissue business falls short in Q4
- GFL renews share repurchase programs
- MP Materials selects suburban Dallas site for factory
- Press Metal affected by currency, hedging issues
- Steel output rises in top economies in January
- Thommen Group announces personnel changes
- International Paper to close South Carolina container plant
