Copper is one of the oldest commodities known to man. It is the world's third most widely used metal and is primarily used in industries such as construction and industrial machinery manufacturing. It is especially useful as electrical conduits and alloys with other metals. The beginning of the Bronze Age is often referred to as the Copper Age, when pure copper was originally used for weapons and farming tools.

To provide price transparency for copper, the New York Mercantile Exchange has made available a London copper Grade A futures contract. This contract is traded solely on the CME Globex® electronic trading system. The size of each contract is 5 metric tons and prices are quoted in U.S. dollars and cents per ton.

The contract is cash settled, and the final settlement price is the floating price calculated for each contract month.