New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. operates as a physical commodity futures exchange and the trading forum for energy and precious metals. Its trading activities include futures and options contracts for crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, electricity, gold, silver, copper, aluminum, and platinum; and futures contracts for coal, propane, and palladium. The company also offers options contracts on the price differentials between crude oil and gasoline, crude oil and heating oil, and Brent and West Texas intermediate crude oil, as well as various futures contract months for light sweet crude, Brent crude, gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas. New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. was founded in 1872 under the name The Butter and Cheese Exchange of New York and changed its name to Butter and Cheese Exchange, Inc. Then again Butter and Cheese Exchange, Inc. changed its name to New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. in 1882. The company is based in New York, New York. New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of NYMEX Holdings, Inc.