Browse All Reference Markets
11 exchanges and price-reporting bodies that the world's metal prices — including the ones on this site — are ultimately built from. A reference market, in plain terms, is simply whichever venue's number the rest of the industry actually quotes: a jeweller in Chennai and a smelter in Rotterdam both end up pricing off one of the venues below, not inventing a figure of their own. MetalsCost tracks this particular set because together they cover every metal this site prices — the London Metal Exchange's six base metals, gold and silver through COMEX and LBMA, platinum and palladium through LPPM, India's own MCX, and the specialist price-reporting agencies that step in for metals too thinly traded for a listed futures contract.
Weekly Trading-Window Hours
Hours open per week, computed from each exchange's own published schedule. LBMA and LPPM are excluded — they run twice-daily benchmark fixings, not a continuous trading session, so "hours open" doesn't apply the same way.
All Reference Markets
Compare All Reference Markets
Every field below comes straight from each market's own profile — filter by type using the buttons above.
| Market | Country | Type | Trading Hours | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LME | United Kingdom | Physical & futures exchange | Mon–Fri, 1:30 PM – 10:00 PM IST | ★★★★★ |
| COMEX | United States | Futures & options exchange | Weekly open Mon 6:30 AM IST, near-continuous with a daily 3:30–4:30 AM IST break, weekly close Sat 3:30 AM IST | ★★★★★ |
| LBMA | United Kingdom | Over-the-counter (OTC) bullion market | Mon–Fri, 1:30 PM – 10:00 PM IST | ★★★★★ |
| LPPM | United Kingdom | Over-the-counter (OTC) bullion market | Mon–Fri, 1:30 PM – 10:00 PM IST | ★★★★★ |
| SHFE | China | Futures exchange | Mon–Fri, 6:30 AM – 12:30 PM IST (trading is actually split across a morning and an evening session in China local time) | ★★★★★ |
| SGE | China | Physical spot exchange | Mon–Fri, 6:30 AM – 12:30 PM IST | ★★★★★ |
| SGX | Singapore | Derivatives exchange (index-settled) | Mon–Fri, 6:30 AM – 2:30 PM IST | ★★★★☆ |
| MCX | India | Futures exchange | Mon–Fri, 9:00 AM – 11:30 PM IST | ★★★★☆ |
| Fastmarkets | Global (HQ London) | Price-reporting agency (benchmark assessments, not a trading venue) | Publishes benchmark price assessments during European business hours — no continuous trading session | ★★★★☆ |
| Asian Metal | China | Price-reporting agency (benchmark assessments, not a trading venue) | Approx. Mon–Fri, 6:30 AM – 2:30 PM IST — assessments published through the trading day | ★★★☆☆ |
| UxC / TradeTech | USA | Uranium market-intelligence firms (benchmark price indicators) | Weekly or daily benchmark publication — no continuous trading session | ★★★★☆ |
