Headquartered in New York, the COMEX is a commodities futures and options exchange similar to the LME. Both the NYMEX and the COMEX, which merged in 1994, are owned by CME Group (NASDAQ:CME). Like LME copper, COMEX copper can also refer to spot copper prices and copper contracts traded on the COMEX. As mentioned above, copper contracts are priced per pound on the COMEX, which has offices all over the world, with listed contracts available during the current calendar month, the next 23 calendar months and any March, May, July, September or December within a 60 month period of the current month. Contracts are also block-trade eligible if the amounts are above minimum thresholds. These types of trades are privately negotiated and executed apart from the public market. They are only open to eligible contract participants as defined by the Commodity Exchange Act. Copper cathode must meet specific chemical and physical requirements in order to trade on the COMEX. COMEX copper futures are settled via physical delivery upon expiration, but COMEX E-Mini copper futures are cash settled. As with the LME, many banks, trading firms and commercial hedgers use COMEX copper for risk management purposes, and CME Group prides the COMEX on being a “global benchmark for copper prices” used by respected indexes such as the Bloomberg Commodity Index.