COMEX

Quick quiz: what does the term "COMEX" typically refer to?

A) A brand of cleaning product
B) A term used for when your significant other has unwarranted communication with an ex (as in "I'm getting pretty tired of the COMEX you've been having with Chantel...")
C) A U.S. navy rank designating the senior member of a ship's communication staff
D) A financial trading platform dedicated to derivatives related to metals

The answer is (D), but we're going to try to get the relationship version of COMEX to catch on.

The financial COMEX, short for "Commodity Exchange," specializes in the trading of metals. So when someone asks about the price of gold, the price you might give them is the one derived from COMEX trading. The organization also provides trading operations for other metals, like silver, copper, and the-still-precious-in-our-eyes zinc.

The COMEX is part of a larger commodity trading organization known as the NYMEX. The two used to operate as separate exchanges but merged in 1994. Both the COMEX and the NYMEX are owned by the CME Group, which also owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). This makes the CME Group the main commodity trading organization in the U.S. and a key component of the global trading system.