The London Metal Exchange (LME) today posted a notice advising LME Members and market participants that it will introduce a new market data Non-Display licence from April 1, 2021.

Any use of LME data other than where the use of the data is in support of its display or distribution may be licensable under the LME’s Non-Display licence. The Non-Display licence is a direct licence required between the LME and the user of the data, and permits non-display use of data from all sources, including data sourced from a licensed distributor, and LMEselect API.

This new licence type is standard in the exchange market data space and will align the LME’s market data offering with that of its peers.

There are a number of waivers and exemptions in place. For instance, a market participant who:

• (a) Trades on the basis of displayed data (e.g. a GUI) or trades over the telephone with a dealer (rather than by means of an algorithm)
• (b) Marks their risk positions and accounts (intraday or end-of-day) on the basis of delayed data
• (c) Enters into physical contracts, issues and pays invoices, on the basis of delayed data would have all of the above activity fee-waived per the licence.

According to the LME, these behaviours represent the core activity of many physical participants, and these behaviours will not incur charges under the licence.

The LME’s Non-Display licence will be available on the LME Licensing Portal from January 1, 2021.

The licence is a group-wide agreement, and billing is based on reporting submitted to the LME on a quarterly basis. These reports should be submitted to the new LME Market Data Reporting Portal from the second quarter of 2020.