Net Alpha Introduces materialx - A Cloud Based Platform to Increase Participation in the Raw Material Price Risk Hedging Market

Net Alpha Financial Systems, LLC ("Net Alpha"), the technology company developing solutions to increase participation in the raw material price risk hedging market, today announced the introduction of the materialx platform. materialx is a cloud based platform deployed by brokerage firms to engage large underserved market segments that require intuitive and readily accessible tools to facilitate raw material price risk hedging practices.

Manufacturers in virtually every industry can face raw material price fluctuations that may hurt their bottom lines, yet relatively few hedge their price exposures. According to a Raw Materials Study from 2018 by INVERTO, a BCG company, "73 percent of companies surveyed secure just 10 percent or less of their raw materials with hedging methods". There are multiple reasons for this, including the perceived unavailability of relevant raw material price risk hedging opportunities and because hedging is seen by most manufacturing companies as overly complicated, opaque, speculative, or requiring expertise that they lack. Due to these and other factors, participation in the raw material price risk hedging market is a fraction of what it could be to the detriment of companies and their shareholders.

The materialx platform makes engaging in hedging accessible through an intuitive interface that lets users evaluate, negotiate, execute, and track hedging positions in just a few clicks. The platform allows a manufacturing company's procurement, sales, and finance teams to effectively collaborate on raw material price risk decisions that may help protect its bottom line.

"Being from the Metro Detroit area and having commercialized several technologies in heavy industries, we understand manufacturing industries and their challenges," said Eyal Mizrahi, CEO and Co-Founder of Net Alpha. "The materialx platform was built for manufacturers in their own language. We are partnering with forward thinking brokerage firms to offer materialx as a digital delivery platform to manufacturing industries, where we hope to make the practice of hedging of raw material price exposures the rule, rather than the exception, particularly among small and mid-sized manufacturers."

The materialx platform is designed to be deployed as a single dealer platform and is under evaluation by several brokerage firms towards its launch in distinct industries. Commodity brokers can complement their existing channels to grow revenues and market share by deploying their own custom tailored platforms based on materialx, allowing them to engage new customers and better serve their existing customer base.

materialx is a cloud based platform designed and built for transacting in raw material contracts. It is provided as a managed software as a service (SaaS), easily configurable and customizable to allow white labeled broker solutions for a wide variety of raw materials and market segments. The platform is built with state of the art technologies for scalability, robustness, traceability, and security and is readily deployable as a managed service solution.

About Net Alpha Financial Systems:

Net Alpha is connecting the worlds of financial services and manufacturing by developing the software tools that leading commodity brokers use to make raw material price hedging accessible to all. Its cloud based platform, materialx, enables brokers to quickly unlock the potential of underserved manufacturing segments by offering them capabilities to evaluate, negotiate, execute and track hedging contracts with just a few clicks.

Disclosures: Net Alpha Financial Systems, LLC ("Net Alpha") is a technology company which develops, owns, and supports software products and technologies used for financial trading purposes. Net Alpha is based in Birmingham, Michigan, and has a wholly owned R&D subsidiary in Israel. For more information, contact: info@n-alpha.com. Middlebelt Management, LLC ("Middlebelt") is a wholly owned subsidiary of Net Alpha that brokers bilateral OTC contracts. Middlebelt is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") as an Introducing Broker and is a member of the National Futures Association ("NFA"). If you are interested in obtaining additional information about Middlebelt or its services, please contact info@middlebeltmgmt.com. Please be advised that commodity interest trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Investors should understand the risks involved in trading and carefully consider whether such trading risks are suitable in light of their financial circumstances, knowledge, and overall resources.