Guide

What is a CTRM for physical commodities?

A CTRM (commodity trading and risk management system) is the software a trading firm uses to record its deals and follow them until they are paid: contracts, logistics, stock, positions, risk and invoicing. For a physical trader, it is the single record of every purchase and sale, from the signed contract to the settled invoice.

01 · The basics

What a CTRM does

A trading firm signs purchases and sales, ships the goods, stores them, hedges the price and invoices the counterparties. Without a CTRM, each of these steps lives in a different place. A CTRM brings them together so that every team works from the same numbers.

Without a CTRM

  • The deal in a WhatsApp message.
  • The contract in Excel.
  • The bill of lading in an email thread.
  • The position in a spreadsheet updated on Friday.

With a CTRM: one record

Example: cocoa, San Pedro to Amsterdam

  • Contract every term, price and counterparty.
  • Shipment bill of lading and containers.
  • Stock lots matched with the keeper report.
  • Position marked to market every evening.
  • Invoice journal entries posted with it.

Contracts

Purchases and sales captured once, with every term, price, incoterm and counterparty.

Logistics

Vessels, containers, bills of lading and shipping documents attached to the contract they belong to.

Stock

Warehouse lots, weights and keeper reports, reconciled with the book.

Positions and risk

Physical and futures positions, marked to market with exchange prices.

Finance

Invoices, credit lines, margin exposure and journal entries generated from the trades.

02 · Physical trading

Why physical trading needs more than a risk tool

Physical trading adds work that a pure trading or risk tool does not see. Goods are weighed, sampled, stored and moved. A CTRM for physical commodities has to follow the goods, not only the price.

0.38 MT

A lot can arrive short. Goods are weighed, sampled and stored, and the gap has to be found.

1 missing

A weight note can be missing when the vessel is already on the water.

Every bag

Cocoa or coffee entering Europe needs an EUDR due-diligence statement that traces every bag back to its plot.

03 · Apollo Negoce

How Apollo Negoce works

Apollo Negoce is a CTRM built by commodity traders for physical trading firms. It follows one trade as one record, in six steps:

  1. 1

    Contract signed

    AI agent

    The deal agreed on WhatsApp is drafted as a contract by an AI agent, and the trader approves it.

  2. 2

    Shipment booked

    B/L

    Booking, containers and bill of lading are attached to the contract.

  3. 3

    On the water

    AIS live

    The vessel is tracked live by AIS, and documents are checked against the shipping instructions.

  4. 4

    In the warehouse

    Keeper report

    Lots are created on arrival and matched with the keeper report. Only the gap is flagged.

  5. 5

    Hedged and marked

    ICE settlement

    The purchase and its hedge sit in the same book, marked every evening with ICE settlement prices.

  6. 6

    Invoiced and settled

    Journal entries

    The invoice comes from the contract, and the journal entries are posted with it.

Commodities covered

  • Cocoa
  • Coffee
  • Cashew
  • Cotton
  • Sesame
  • Soybean
  • Corn
  • Rice
  • Sugar
  • Palm oil
  • Rubber
  • Peanut

See the full example on the home page, from 100 MT of cocoa beans bought FOB San Pedro to the invoice.

04 · Modules

Every module, one system

Apollo Negoce covers the whole life of a physical trade in one platform, grouped in three families.

Trade

  • Contracts
  • Broker contracts
  • Futures
  • Book
  • Positions
  • Claims
  • Costing
  • FX hedging
  • Mark to market
  • Margin calls
  • Market research
  • Contacts

Logistics and quality

  • Shipments
  • Freight rates
  • Inventory
  • Quality
  • Processing
  • EUDR

Finance and back office

  • Accounting
  • Invoices
  • Commission invoices
  • Payments
  • Treasury
  • Credit lines
05 · Integrations

Possible integrations

Apollo Negoce can connect to the tools a trading desk already runs. Each connection is scoped with you, and nothing has to be migrated for Apollo Negoce to work.

  • Microsoft 365 mail, calendar and identity.
  • Azure hosting and services.
  • Power BI your reporting on Apollo Negoce data.
  • Your ERP two-way, with no double entry.
  • ICE settlement prices.
  • Bloomberg market data and FX.
  • StoneX futures execution and statements.
  • Marex broker positions and confirmations.
  • Vessel tracking position and ETA for each shipment.
07 · Side by side

CTRM or spreadsheets?

SpreadsheetsCTRM
PositionUpdated on Friday, a guess until then.Known every evening.
Typing errorsA deal retyped into Excel can turn 5,400 into 4,500 and break the position.Captured once.
ShipmentsThe documents of one shipment are spread across several email threads.They sit on the contract, and the missing ones are flagged.
Month-endInvoices typed twice, once for the counterparty and once in accounting: month-end takes a week.The journal entries come from the trades.
09 · FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What does CTRM stand for?

CTRM stands for commodity trading and risk management. It is the system a trading firm uses to record its contracts and follow them through logistics, stock, positions, risk and invoicing.

What is the difference between a CTRM and an ETRM?

An ETRM (energy trading and risk management system) is built for power, gas and oil. A CTRM covers commodities more broadly. Apollo Negoce is a CTRM for physical soft and agricultural commodities such as cocoa, coffee, cashew, cotton and sugar.

Who is Apollo Negoce for?

Physical commodity trading firms: trading desks, operations, finance and compliance teams that buy, ship, store, hedge and sell physical goods.

Which commodities does Apollo Negoce cover?

Cocoa, coffee, cashew, cotton, sesame, soybean, corn, rice, sugar, palm oil, rubber and peanut.

Does Apollo Negoce handle EUDR compliance?

Yes. Supplier plots are imported in Excel, GeoJSON or Shapefile, each plot is scored for deforestation risk with Global Forest Watch, and the due-diligence statement for the shipment is generated in one click, with a full audit trail.

How are positions marked to market?

Every purchase, sale and futures lot feeds the same book. When the exchange settles, Apollo Negoce marks the book to market with ICE settlement prices, every evening.

What do the AI agents do?

AI agents handle back-office work, including freight (rates and RFQs to carriers), export documents (bills of lading, phytosanitary certificates, certificates of origin and weight notes checked against instructions), warehouse (releases and weight gaps), claims (deadlines and ICE allowances) and surveyors (quotes, nominations and reports). A human approves every action.

Which modules does Apollo Negoce include?

Trade: contracts, broker contracts, futures, book, positions, claims, costing, FX hedging, mark to market, margin calls, market research and contacts. Logistics and quality: shipments, freight rates, inventory, quality, processing and EUDR. Finance and back office: accounting, invoices, commission invoices, payments, treasury and credit lines.

Which tools can Apollo Negoce connect to?

Apollo Negoce can connect to Microsoft 365, Azure, Power BI, your ERP, ICE, Bloomberg, StoneX, Marex and vessel tracking. Each connection is scoped with you, and nothing has to be migrated for Apollo Negoce to work.

How long does it take to go live?

Weeks, not a year. The team learns your processes, configures the platform, loads a subset of your contracts and trains your team. A request gets an answer within 24 hours, and most customizations ship within a week.

Is our data used to train AI models?

No. Data submitted to the AI features is processed only to answer the request and is never used to train AI models.

Who builds Apollo Negoce?

Apollo Negoce FZCO, based in Dubai. It was founded by Alexandre Loustau, who spent twelve years trading physical commodities, and Marc Lhuillery, who spent eight years building cloud and AI platforms at Microsoft and AWS.

See it on your own trades.

A 30-minute live demo, tailored to your commodities and operations.

Book a demo