Metalshub launches Open Trading to bring live price discovery to raw materials, starting with lithium

Düsseldorf, Germany, 19 October 2026 – Metalshub, the leading platform provider for physical raw material trading in the metals and mining industry, is pleased to announce the launch of Metalshub Open Trading. The new trading mode lets raw material buyers and sellers post live bids and offers, see prices as they form, and trade on standard terms with counterparties they have approved. Open Trading sits beside Metalshub’s other trading modes, including private and public tenders (RfQs), anonymous term sheet trading and structured auctions, so the platform now covers every way physical raw materials are traded. The trading terms and product specifications were developed based on Metalshub’s extensive experience of digital commodity trading, with important input from our trading users, producers, and consumers across the lithium market. Lithium is the first market to go live on Open Trading in November, with further raw materials to follow.

The physical lithium market has grown quickly. Lithium carbonate futures, led by those on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, have become a leading price reference, while physical deals are often still priced through bilateral negotiation and published price assessments. Outside the futures market, buyers and sellers of physical lithium have had no neutral, shared place to post firm bids and offers in US dollars to counterparties they have approved. Open Trading gives them that place, on a platform many of them already use for tenders and auctions.

At launch, Open Trading covers battery-grade lithium carbonate, technical-grade lithium carbonate and spodumene concentrate. Participants post bids and offers in US dollars per metric tonne and see every live order across the network. Trading is anonymous, but a trade can only be concluded when both companies have approved each other as counterparties. Prices from companies that haven’t been approved stay visible for reference but can’t be traded.

Open Trading builds on Metalshub’s experience running digital tenders and auctions in raw materials, and on direct input from more than ten lithium producers, consumers and traders in 2026. The response was enthusiastic. Participants welcomed a shared venue where the whole market can see live prices, and they were clear that they would only trade anonymously with counterparties they had approved beforehand. That is how Open Trading works. The standard terms will be reviewed regularly with market participants and revised as the market develops.

With Open Trading, Metalshub now offers a trading mode for raw materials at every stage of market maturity, and each stage calls for a different way of trading: a speciality product with a handful of qualified buyers suits a private tender, a spot lot that needs a fair price suits a public RfQ or an auction, and standard grades with many active buyers and sellers are ready for an open trading market. Metalshub brings all of these onto one platform.

Companies can pick the mode that suits each material and each enquiry, without switching platforms or onboarding counterparties again. Several of the world’s major lithium producers already sell through digital bidding events on Metalshub.

Metalshub will host a webinar on 12 November 2026, where Dr. Frank Jackel will explain how Open Trading works and what participants can expect in the first months of trading. Registration is open at https://www.metals-hub.com/en/metalshub-talks/016/. More information on Open Trading is available at https://www.metals-hub.com/en/product/feature/open-trading/.

Metalshub is the leading digital platform provider for physical raw material trading in the metals and mining industry. By leveraging advanced technology and market expertise, Metalshub provides digital solutions for buyers and sellers to connect, negotiate, and close transactions. With its innovative solutions, Metalshub empowers 3,000+ businesses to optimise supply chains, make informed decisions, and drive growth in the digital era. Its platform enables sellers to provide provenance, carbon footprint, and ESG information to its customers in an auditable form, leading to qualification for key target market regulations. Founded in 2016 by Dr. Sebastian Kreft and Dr. Frank Jackel, Metalshub now serves thousands of companies and is based in Düsseldorf, Germany. Learn more at metals-hub.com.

Dr. Frank Jackel, Co-Founder and Managing Director, frank.jackel@metals-hub.com