Newcomer of the year: Abaxx Exchange

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Key points Summary

• Abaxx Exchange has listed 18 futures benchmarks since its June 2024 launch, including the only physically deliverable global LNG futures and the only US dollar‑denominated nickel sulphate and lithium carbonate futures outside China.
• It has delivered market firsts such as the first OTC LNG cargo trade indexed to Abaxx futures (March 2025), the first delivery for the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation Phase One futures (May 2025) and the first physical delivery of its US dollar‑denominated gold Singapore futures (February this year).
• Trading has climbed sharply, with more than 1.5 million contracts in Q3 2026 and year‑to‑date LNG futures volume equal to over 900 standard cargoes — about one‑third of combined 2025 imports by China, Japan and South Korea.
• Abaxx is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, holds Foreign Boards of Trade registration with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is recognised as an Organised Market Place by the European Union’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators.

These summaries are generated by an LLM, but edited by humans.

Global commodities markets are being reshaped by the electrification and decarbonisation demands of the energy transition. In Asia, the replacement of coal by gas in power generation is causing surging demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG). According to Wood Mackenzie, LNG demand in Asia is forecast to almost double by 2050. Asian demand is also rising for battery materials such as lithium carbonate and nickel sulphate for use in electric vehicles and battery energy storage systems.

Joe Raia, Abaxx Exchange

For firms involved in, or exposed to, these transition commodities, risk management and hedging are essential to offset the many vagaries around price and supply. Current geopolitical turmoil, physical supply constraints and macroeconomic headwinds have only added to the uncertainty and volatility in these markets. However, managing this risk is extremely challenging, as financial instruments have not kept pace with the underlying changes in physical markets.

Abaxx Exchange, winner of Energy Risk Asia’s 2026 Newcomer of the year award, set out to redress this situation with the creation of a suite of modern futures contracts designed to align with the underlying physical market and eliminate huge amounts of basis risk.

Since its launch in June 2024, Abaxx Exchange has listed 18 futures benchmarks across energy, environmental, battery materials and precious metals markets. “Many of these are the first or only of their kind globally,” notes Joe Raia, president of Abaxx Exchange.

The exchange’s product suite includes the only physically deliverable LNG futures contract to trade globally, and the only US dollar-denominated futures for nickel sulphate and lithium carbonate outside China. For precious metals, it offers the only physically deliverable US dollar gold futures in Singapore and the only 1,000-ounce four-nines silver futures deliverable into Singapore. Abaxx also offers wind and solar futures that convert weather variability into standardised, tradable generation-volume risk.

Designing new contracts in a changing global energy system required close collaboration across the commodities ecosystem. “As market dynamics evolve, futures specifications must be engineered alongside industry participants to reflect emerging commercial realities,” says Raia. “By working directly with producers, global trading houses, end-users and financial institutions, we developed purpose-built products for more precise risk management in today’s markets.”

Russell Robertson, Abaxx Exchange

Abaxx Exchange was built by a leadership team drawn from Goldman Sachs, Nymex, CME and the Singapore Exchange. Between them, the team have launched 10 exchanges and clearing platforms. “This equipped Abaxx with the institutional depth to navigate regulatory complexity and the market structure challenges of building genuinely new benchmarks,” says Russell Robertson, Abaxx’s chief business development officer.

The concept and execution clearly resonated well with market participants and, by the fourth quarter of 2025, more than 150 firms were connected to the Abaxx platform, including clearing firms, trading firms and interdealer brokers, with 29 liquidity providers active across product verticals.

Since launch, Abaxx has facilitated several ground-breaking trades. In March 2025, two Asia-based counterparties completed the first over-the-counter LNG cargo trade indexed to Abaxx futures prices, confirming the contract’s function as a market benchmark beyond the exchange itself. In May 2025, the exchange completed the world’s first delivery for a Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for the International Aviation Phase One futures contract. In February this year, it completed the first physical delivery of its US dollar-denominated gold Singapore futures contract.

Contract volumes have been climbing steadily, with the exchange reaching more than 1.5 million contracts traded in Q3 2026. Year-to-date, trading volume and average daily volume were more than seven times those of the preceding six months, while average daily open interest has more than doubled.

Year-to-date trading volume in Abaxx’s Gulf of Mexico and North Pacific Asia LNG futures already equates to more than 900 standard cargoes — roughly one-third of the combined volume imported by China, Japan and South Korea in 2025, or nearly one-quarter of total Asian LNG imports last year, according to data from the International Group of LNG Importers.

As well as being licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Abaxx holds Foreign Boards of Trade registration with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is recognised as an Organised Market Place by the European Union’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators.

Abaxx is also a member of the Singapore Bullion Market Association, the Asia Natural Gas and Energy Association, the Futures Industry Association, the World Federation of Exchanges and CCP Global.

Further reading

Energy Risk Asia Awards 2026: The winners

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