Over our 25 years of developing and maintaining commodity trading software, we have watched a massive evolution of the software metals traders use on a daily basis. However, what is particularly striking is the current rapid pace of change, driven by new technologies like Cloud, Commodity Management, and AI.
Even a decade ago, there were sometimes discussions around whether CTRM systems were really needed or whether some metals traders could get by using spreadsheets. Since then, we’ve seen the emergence of Commodity Management Systems, with their extensive additional features and straightforward Cloud implementations, usurp the predominant position of the Commodity Trading and Risk Management (CTRM) System. And thanks to the flexibility and scalability of these modern Commodity Management Systems, new technologies such as AI are being rapidly incorporated into the Commodity Management ecosystem, taking the CTRM from a niche risk management tool into a connected system that powers the entire trading organisation.
With that in mind, if you know that your organisation needs to improve its commodity trading risk management, especially if the software is new to you, it can be difficult to know where to start. This quick guide is designed to provide a basic overview of CTRM and Commodity Management technology for metals traders so that you can better understand your options.
Metals CTRM and Commodity Management quick questions
What’s the difference between CTRM and Commodity Management Systems?
How does Commodity Management support metals supply chains?
Does a Commodity Management System do everything?
How can CTRM/Commodity Management support ESG compliance and traceability?
What is a metals CTRM?
If you’re not already familiar with the term ‘CTRM’, it is a Commodity Trading and Risk Management System. These systems help commodity traders manage buying, selling, and hedging commodities. They typically focus mainly on financial risks, but can also mitigate operational risks. A good CTRM system should help your risk managers create a more efficient operation grounded in real-time data and risk controls, and provide the front office with the data they need to make faster, better decisions.
And a metals Commodity Trading & Risk Management system has more functionality for metals and concentrates than generalised CTRMs can offer.
Whilst all commodities share some features such as contract management, invoicing, and allocating stock that can make generic software potentially feasible, concentrates traders in particular are likely to discover that a generic CTRM does not in fact, have the complete set of functions that they need.
When Gen10 developed functionality for metals and concentrates traders within CommOS, our Commodity Management System, we worked directly with metals traders to understand exactly what additional features were needed. And over the years we have worked with several other client metals and concentrates traders to further refine this functionality. So, we know from experience that a CTRM or Commodity Management System that has not been designed specifically for metals is unlikely to be able to support all the complexity in the field, no matter how flexible it is.
To take just pricing as an example, you can explore some of the metals-specific functionality in CommOS here, it can include:
- Premiums & penalties/discounts,
- Logistics and processing fees for multiple shipment schedules,
- FX and interest,
- Provisional invoicing,
- and, of course, live P&L and MtM reports, amongst other features.
And because CommOS was designed with flexibility in mind, the automation workflows and pricing calculations can all be adapted to your own unique processes.
Why do I need a metals CTRM?
Metals trading is becoming increasingly complex, and this complexity creates risk. Pricing is more volatile, we are seeing a significant uptick in geopolitical tensions and constantly shifting tariff regimes, as well as more protectionism in producing countries. On top of this, the regulatory landscape is not becoming any simpler, particularly when it comes to ESG, carbon reporting, and traceability legislation.
This complexity means that not only do metals and concentrates traders need to manage more data than ever before, but they also need the systems and tools in place to be able to demonstrate that they are accurately managing and reporting on this data. A good metals CTRM system makes comprehensive, real-time data management simple.
It breaks down organisational silos, reduces the operational risks of copying information across systems, and ensures that reports are updated in real-time as traders go about their day, with no waiting for colleagues to report on what they’ve been working on in a separate system. A CTRM like CommOS can also automate a lot of your workflows, such as creating and emailing documents to the correct counterparty or approval process, updating your ERP and payments systems, and notifying colleagues when they need to act.
Some of the advantages of Gen10’s CommOS specifically for metals include:
- A “component mode” for concentrates contracts that allows you to price all assays’ premiums and discounts within one contract.
- A formula engine that automatically calculates assay pricing, and populates your MtM, P&L, documents & systems with the results.
- A wide range of quality options including the ability to add premiums and discounts to assays, grades, shapes, delivery terms and more.
- Management of weight/size conversions, processing fees, and shipment details such as incoterms and delivery optionality.
- Allocation controls to ensure stock meets all the quality requirements of a given contract.
- The ability to automatically update documents with a click if an assay changes after inspection, also causing their MtM and P&L to update automatically.
- The ability to add multiple exchanges and create composite curves with ease, as well as tiered FX and interest calculations.
- Provisional and final invoicing over a Quotation Period (QP) based on your chosen exchange(s).
And these metal-specific features are on top of the standard workflow engines, automation, logistics, hedging and audit features we provide for all commodities.
What’s the difference between a CTRM and a Commodity Management System?
Commodity Management Systems offer a considerably broader set of functionalities than the older CTRM systems. They developed in response to traders’ frustrations with CTRM limitations, especially in the areas of supply chain, logistics and operations. One of the major differences between a CTRM and a Commodity Management System is that whereas a CTRM focuses, often poorly, on financial risk, a Commodity Management System also helps traders mitigate against many other risk factors, with a strong focus on operational risk.
For example, CommOS allows merchants to manage the full commodity lifecycle, bringing together their entire business in one connected system. Its expanded functionality includes CRM and counterparty risk, financial risk management, deal capture and contract creation, pricing, invoicing, and the ability for operators to manage every aspect of commodities logistics, processing, and pricing within the Commodity Management System.
This also means that traceability and other compliance reporting is managed entirely within the one system. Your entire team can see all the data associated with each virtual lot and can trace stock from purchase, across any processing and shipping, to sale with ease. There is no manual copying of information between systems to introduce operational risk or damage chain of custody data.
How does Commodity Management support metals supply chains?
As mentioned above, a Commodity Management System takes your risk management software out of an isolated CTRM system and allows you to digitally transform your entire trading operation. This joined-up approach has benefits both for logistics teams and for the metals merchant as an organisation.
And it is particularly significant in the current trading environment. The risks that metals traders are exposed to have increased in number and disruptive impact over the last several years. Geopolitical risks, trade wars and tariffs are all having a serious impact and can change at the drop of a hat. Meanwhile the energy transition is changing demand patterns, market behaviour, and encouraging new entrants, all whilst ESG legislation is increasing the reporting burden on busy teams. Added to this is the fallout from high-profile metals fraud scandals and a general withdrawing of banks from the trade financing space compounding the operational and data management challenges across trading firms.
This is why it is so important to be using software that simplifies trading processes and removes as much duplication, administration, and risk from your data flows as possible. Profit in metals trading comes from understanding and valuing quality data, regional arbitrage, logistics and costs, as well as clients, suppliers, markets, and the risks inherent in each of these. By connecting all your data and all your internal teams, your people can access the data and insights they need to make decisions – fast, and with certainty.
A Commodity Management System should pull in data from various supply chain partners, regardless of format, and consolidate it into one centralised platform. This includes information from warehouse documents, inspection companies, laboratories, purchase and sale contracts, and vessel tracking systems, among other tools, so that you really do have access to all your supply chain data.
With its automated workflows, seamless data flows, and comprehensive risk controls, CommOS creates real value and real time savings for busy logistics professionals:
Automated Document Creation & Workflows
- Automatically generates shipping documents based on assay information already in the system
- Automated workflows progress tasks and documents to the appropriate next stage (internal approvals or external communications with counterparties/inspection companies)
- Sends documents to relevant counterparties with a single click
- Manages the complete logistics of sampling and inspections
- Automatically updates system data after inspections are complete
Alerts & Risk Controls
- Built-in alerts and calendar notifications ensure smooth handovers and prevent items from being missed or lost in email inboxes
- Checks that allocated stock is within the contract’s quality/assay tolerance levels
- Alerts for oversights such as missing mandatory documents or unpaid customs duties
- Automatic OFAC sanctions list screening
Pricing Optionality
- Create pricing optionality based on delivery port, incoterms, and other contract parameters
- Automatically recalculate invoices and duties once delivery options are selected
Integrated Inventory Management
- Create strategies based on locations, transportation modes, warehousing strategies, and other variables
- Make allocation decisions that consider all open positions, not just current inventories, using live data from trading teams
- Complete oversight of all inventory, down to integrating with vessel trackers for container-level visibility and updated ETAs whilst at sea
And the risk management extends beyond the logistics team. Connecting teams means your traders can create better scenario planning and what-if analysis straight away based on the live situation – particularly important if there is a supply chain shock or disruptive event. And all teams can make faster decisions in response to changing conditions as they all have access to the complete live data, with all positions available at all times. This creates more resilient supply chains and an organisation that is positioned to respond when disruptive events occur.
As well as meaning that your teams don’t need to wait for spreadsheets to be updated by others, the very real operational risk of errors created by copying information into and between systems, version control issues, and misalignment between teams is also significantly reduced, as there is no need to copy information for the benefit of other teams.
Does a Commodity Management System do everything?
Although Commodity Management Systems were designed to fill the functionality gap left by CTRM systems, commodity trading, and the systems that support it, are constantly evolving. We want our clients to be able to make the most of every new technology and point solution, whether that’s a vessel tracking system, carbon calculator, or new AI tools.
A single Commodity Management System is unlikely to be the best solution for every single use case as new technologies develop, and that’s why the best Commodity Management Systems, like CommOS, are designed to be flexible and interoperable. This means that you can connect in other data sources and systems with two-way live integrations, so they become part of the one platform, transferring even more information seamlessly across your business.
And the other important thing to note is that some companies might not want to use all the functionality of a Commodity Management System if they already have some of these point solutions in place. Commodity Management Systems are typically more modular than older CTRM systems, allowing your team to select only the functionality you’d like, with the flexibility to add functions or change workflows down the line as required.
The ‘joining the dots’ approach between systems means operators update a shipment once, and that information automatically flows to traders, risk managers, and compliance teams – eliminating manual copying, reducing errors, and freeing your people to focus on strategic activities that drive value.
How can a CTRM/CMS support ESG compliance and traceability requirements?
ESG compliance is becoming increasingly rigorous, and the pace of change in ESG reporting is also accelerating. The good news is that much of the sustainability reporting challenge is simply a question of having the right data management processes in place. And Commodity Management Systems are here to help metals merchants manage their trading data.
A metals Commodity Management System should have all the flexibility and optionality to manage new data fields, workflows, and reports, meaning that it should allow you to add additional sustainability quality data to your processes without much disruption or additional work for traders. Gen10’s CommOS has this flexibility as standard, and we are used to adding new sustainability and traceability features as the need arises.
Alongside the actual management of sustainability data, the real benefit of using a metals Commodity Management System is that your organisation can prove that it has the systems in place to accurately maintain and report on this data. Reporting should be automatic, meaning that there is no reporting burden on your team, but also no operational risk from copying or typing, as the information is all processed automatically – so your reports are verifiably accurate and always up to date.
And because a CMS manages all your logistics too, it provides a complete chain of custody record for traceability purposes. Then, by adding in additional point solutions as needed, like integrating with vessel trackers and carbon calculators, you are able to build a more accurate picture of each journey’s actual emissions. And again, these systems’ outputs are directly linked to specific shipments and contracts, with no need for manual copying and the operational risks this would create.
With schemes such as the EU CBAM requiring payment for carbon emissions, and penalising those who rely on generic estimates, real-world operational data can represent a significant cost saving compared to relying on the industry defaults.
Conclusion: taking your CTRM into the supply chain with a CMS is essential in the current metals landscape
The metals trading landscape is evolving faster than ever before. With increasing complexity around pricing, heightened geopolitical tensions, and mounting ESG compliance requirements, spreadsheets and legacy systems simply can’t keep pace, and even pose a huge risk to the business.
What metals and concentrates traders need now is a comprehensive solution that not only manages financial risk but also breaks down operational silos, automates workflows, and provides the real-time visibility required to make confident decisions in volatile markets.
A purpose-built Commodity Management System like CommOS goes beyond traditional CTRM functionality to support your entire trading operation—from deal capture and pricing through to logistics, compliance, and traceability. And is powered by modern technology including AI-driven automation that brings real business value.
With metals-specific features developed in collaboration with traders who understand the unique complexities of concentrates, ores, and refined metals, CommOS is designed to adapt to your processes rather than forcing you to adapt to the software.
Whether you’re looking to improve risk management, streamline operations, or prepare for the next wave of sustainability reporting requirements, now is the time to ensure your systems can support your ambitions.
Ready to see how CommOS can transform your metals trading? Book a demo now
This article was updated in 2026 to reflect the current CTRM market and trading environment.
