The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX)
was founded in 1872 and is the third largest US futures exchange and the world's
largest physical commodity exchange. Since the exchange merged with Commodity
Exchange Inc. (COMEX) in 1994, trading is conducted through two divisions; the
NYMEX division, which trades a variety of energy futures, platinum futures and
options platinum and palladium futures, and the COMEX division which trades gold,
silver and copper futures and options.
The gold trading of the COMEX division is discussed in detail in the entry for
Commodity Exchange Inc., and all references in this guide to the COMEX division
describe it as COMEX for simplicity. The whole exchange moved into a new trading
facility in the World Financial Center in New York in July 1997, as it celebrated
its 125th anniversary.