AeX

Internal · Working Documents

Trade lifecycle checklists.

Eight stage-gates for a physical critical-minerals trade, from counterparty onboarding to standing portfolio controls. In a market with no benchmark, no hedge, and often no second buyer, this process is the risk management. Each checklist saves progress in your browser and prints cleanly for the deal file.

Standing doctrine — applies to every trade, every stage.
  • Paper is the fraud surface. No payment, financing, or collateral recognition against documents alone — every major trading loss of the past decade (Qingdao, Hin Leong, Trafigura–Gupta) was a document failure, not a price call.
  • Back-to-back or pre-sold only. An open flat-price position in an unhedgeable metal is an investment decision requiring separate sign-off, never a trading position.
  • Counterparty selection is the risk management. Everything after signing is damage control.
  • Compliance is a gate, not a department. Export controls, UFLPA provenance, and sanctions screening recur at every stage.
  • Reserve book ≠ trading book. Different mandate (availability, not price), separate governance, hardest audit on the strategic side.
01Counterparty Onboarding & KYCIdentity, ownership, sanctions and export-control screening, track record, credit, tiering and limits. The heaviest gate in the lifecycle.Gate · no trade with an untiered counterparty 02Deal Structuring & ContractSpecs and assay terms, pricing reference and quotational period, Incoterms, tolerances, title and risk transfer, law and arbitration, licensing conditions.Gate · both legs matched before commitment 03Trade Finance & Payment SecurityInstrument choice, letter-of-credit terms and documents, prepayment protections, collateral verification, insurance.Gate · no finance against unverified collateral 04Logistics & ExecutionBooking, packing and marking for small lots, customs and HS codes, export filings, tracking, demurrage control.Gate · export licence in hand before loading 05Inspection, Assay & QualityIndependent inspection at load and discharge, sealed counter-samples, pre-agreed umpire laboratory, container and seal integrity.Gate · no uninspected cargo, ever 06Settlement, Title & DocumentsDocument chain verification, originals control, payment-versus-documents mechanics, warehouse receipt authentication, title passage.Gate · verify before value moves 07Claims, Disputes & Post-Trade ReviewClaim windows, umpire procedure, demurrage claims, default management, lessons-learned and counterparty score updates.Gate · every trade closes with a review 08Risk & Portfolio Controls (Standing)Position and concentration limits, inventory marks in benchmark-less markets, reserve and trading book separation, audit cadence.Gate · run monthly, not per trade

AeX process series v1.0 · derived from the verified Storm Research briefing Physical Commodities Trading: The Full Lifecycle (July 2026) · review annually or after any loss event.