GCX Exchange
Notes from the physical metals market
How the exchange matches orders, how a deal is priced and delivered, and what is moving in the market — written for people who trade metal, not for search engines.
What we write about
Ten sections. Each one is where a question actually comes up in a deal or in working with metal, not where a keyword happens to sit.
- Grades and materials17 articles
- Weight and calculation5 articles
- Standards5 articles
- Machining5 articles
- Applications6 articles
- Customs and HS codes12 articles
- Logistics and delivery6 articles
- Exchange and deals6 articles
- Market4 articles
- Buying and selling6 articles
Articles
Certification, laboratories, quality expertise
Metal quality expertise: when laboratory steel analysis and certification of steel products are needed, who performs them and what to do with the test report.
Duplex 2205 and super duplex: where they are needed
Duplex 2205 and super duplex: structure, strength and chloride resistance, comparison with 304 and 316, limitations, welding and areas of application.
DDP: the seller is responsible all the way to the buyer's warehouse
DDP delivery terms: what falls within the seller's obligations, who pays duties and taxes, where risk passes and when this basis benefits a buyer of rolled steel.
CIF: price with delivery and insurance
CIF delivery terms: what the price includes, who pays freight and insurance, where risk passes and how CIF differs from FOB and CIP.
What a commodity exchange is and how it works
A commodity exchange: types of venues, what is traded, how trading is organised and how an exchange differs from a marketplace. The mechanics of order matching and collateral.
Stainless steel: what it is and what it is made of
What stainless steel is, what it is made of, which classes and structures exist, and why AISI 304 sometimes rusts. Composition, grades and a comparison with aluminium.
Order book, orders and spread: how to read the market
The order book: how to read orders, the spread and market depth, how an active order differs from a passive one and how a counter-order leads to a trade.
Exchange safety: risks and how to close them
What the GCX exchange guarantees in a trade and what stays with the parties: deposits on both sides, anonymity, deadlines, counterparty checks and documents.
ASTM, EN, DIN, ASME: how they relate to ГОСТ
How AISI differs from ASTM and where EN, DIN and ASME fit in. A comparison table of grades 304, 316 and 321 under ГОСТ and Western standards, and what to write in the contract.
AISI 430: ferritic stainless steel without nickel
AISI 430 is a ferritic stainless steel without nickel, magnetism, analogy with 12Х17, comparison with 304 and 439, applications, limitations and price factors.