Scrap Metal Prices in Fort Lauderdale, FL: Today’s Market Guide
Wondering about scrap metal prices in Fort Lauderdale? This guide explains how copper, aluminum, brass, and steel are priced, what moves prices daily, and how to get the best payout — plus why you should always call +1 954-762-9100 for today’s actual rates.
What are scrap metal prices in Fort Lauderdale today? The honest answer: they change every single day, sometimes more than once. Copper follows the COMEX exchange, aluminum tracks the London Metal Exchange, and every yard sets its own buying prices based on those benchmarks. For today’s actual prices at our yard, call Fort Lauderdale Scrap at +1 954-762-9100 — any price list you find online is already out of date.
Why No Honest Yard Publishes a Fixed Price List
Let’s get this out of the way first, because it’s the most important thing on this page.
If you Google “scrap metal prices Fort Lauderdale” you’ll find websites with neat tables showing exact per-pound prices. Here’s what those sites don’t tell you: those numbers are either national averages, weeks old, or simply made up. A price list published on Monday can be wrong by Wednesday. Sometimes it’s wrong by the afternoon.
Scrap metal is a commodity. Like stocks, its price moves with global supply and demand, currency swings, trade policy, and construction cycles. The COMEX copper price — the benchmark for copper in North America — moves every trading day. On October 21, 2026, COMEX copper was trading around $6.52 per pound. That’s a market reference point, not what any yard pays you — but it shows you the scale of daily movement.
So when we say “call for today’s prices,” it’s not a sales trick. It’s the only honest answer. Call +1 954-762-9100 and we’ll tell you exactly what we’re paying right now.
How Scrap Metal Pricing Actually Works
Before we talk about specific metals, you need to understand the pricing chain. It has three links:
Link 1: The global market. Exchanges like COMEX (New York) and the LME (London Metal Exchange) set benchmark prices for refined metals. These move daily based on mine output, manufacturing demand, tariffs, and investor sentiment.
Link 2: The regional market. Mills, smelters, and large processors buy from yards in bulk. They pay below the exchange price because they have to process, transport, and resell the material. South Florida prices also reflect local factors — transportation costs to mills, regional demand from construction, and competition between yards.
Link 3: Your yard. This is where you come in. The yard buys your scrap at a price below what the processor pays them — the difference covers grading, sorting, handling, and running the business. Every yard’s numbers are slightly different, which is why calling around (or just calling us) matters.
Understanding this chain explains why two yards can quote different prices on the same day, and why yesterday’s price isn’t today’s price.
Copper Prices in Fort Lauderdale: What to Know
Copper is the metal everyone asks about, and for good reason — it consistently pays the most per pound of any common scrap metal. But not all copper is priced the same. Yards grade copper into categories, and the grade makes a huge difference.
Copper Grades Explained
Bare bright copper is the top grade — clean, uncoated, unalloyed copper wire thicker than a pencil lead, with no insulation, no tarnish, no solder. This is what electricians strip from Romex and what you get from clean copper pipe. It commands the highest price.
#1 copper is clean copper tubing, pipe, and wire that isn’t quite bare-bright quality — maybe slightly tarnished or thinner gauge. Still excellent money.
#2 copper includes copper with some oxidation, solder joints, or light contamination — think old plumbing with fittings still attached.
Insulated wire is copper wire with the insulation still on. It gets graded by recovery rate (how much copper is inside the insulation). Common grades are calculated by the percentage of copper content.
As a market reference point (not our buying price): in late October 2026, the spread between top-grade bare bright copper at Southeast U.S. yards was roughly $5.09–$5.61 per pound, against a COMEX benchmark near $6.52. That gap between exchange price and yard price is normal — it reflects processing, transport, and the yard’s margin. Our actual buying prices change daily: call +1 954-762-9100.
How to Get the Best Copper Price
- Strip your wire. Bare bright pays significantly more than insulated. A $20 wire stripper pays for itself fast.
- Remove solder and fittings. #1 copper with solder joints attached gets downgraded to #2.
- Keep it dry. Corroded, green copper grades lower.
- Separate by grade. Don’t mix bare bright with #2 — the whole lot gets graded at the lowest level.
Aluminum Scrap Prices
Aluminum is the second-most-common scrap metal in South Florida, and we see mountains of it — especially after storm season. But aluminum has many grades, and they price very differently.
Used beverage cans (UBC) are the most familiar — the lowest per-pound price, but everyone has them. Extrusions (window frames, door frames, structural aluminum) pay better. Clean aluminum siding and gutters sit in the middle. Aluminum wire and cast aluminum (transmission housings, old engine parts) have their own grades.
The key with aluminum: keep it clean and separated. Aluminum with steel screws still in it, or painted aluminum mixed with mill-finish, gets downgraded. A magnet is your friend — if it sticks, there’s steel contamination.
Brass, Stainless Steel, and Other Non-Ferrous Metals
Brass — common in plumbing fixtures, valves, doorknobs, and fittings — splits into yellow brass and red brass, with red brass typically paying more. If you’re a plumber doing repipes across Broward County, your brass bucket is real money.
Stainless steel shows up in restaurant equipment, sinks, and industrial scrap. It’s graded by series (304 vs. 316, roughly speaking), and a magnet test helps — most stainless is only slightly magnetic or non-magnetic, unlike regular steel.
Electric motors, sealed units, and transformers are priced as complete units or by their copper/aluminum content. An old AC compressor, for example, contains copper windings, steel housing, and sometimes aluminum — yards price them as a category rather than breaking them down.
Steel and Iron Prices
Steel is the heavyweight of the scrap world — literally. It pays the least per pound but makes up for it in sheer weight. Old appliances, car bodies, beams, pipes, and fencing are all steel.
Steel pricing is usually quoted per ton (2,000 pounds) rather than per pound, because the per-pound number looks discouragingly small. But do the math: a dead washing machine at 200 pounds, a water heater at 150, an old steel shed — it adds up fast.
Heavy melting steel (HMS) is the standard grade — thick, clean steel over a quarter-inch thick. Lighter stuff (sheet metal, thin appliances) grades as shred or tin. As with everything, cleaner and thicker pays better.
What Makes Your Payout Go Up or Down
Beyond the metal type, five factors decide what you walk out with:
1. Cleanliness and sorting. This is the big one. A bucket of clean, stripped copper wire vs. the same wire tangled with steel screws and plastic — the price difference can be dramatic. An hour of sorting at home routinely adds 20–30% to a load’s value.
2. Quantity. Larger loads sometimes earn better per-pound rates. It never hurts to ask: “I’m bringing 500 pounds of #1 copper — can you do any better on the price?”
3. Market timing. Prices have seasonal patterns — construction demand typically lifts prices in spring and summer. But don’t try to time the market like a stock trader; the daily swings are unpredictable.
4. Contamination. Dirt, oil, concrete, wood attached to your metal — all of it gets you downgraded. Hose off muddy steel. Drain fluids from engine parts.
5. Where you sell. Different yards pay different prices. We’re confident in our numbers, but we encourage you to call around — then call us at +1 954-762-9100 and compare.
South Florida Factors That Affect Local Prices
Fort Lauderdale isn’t just anywhere — local conditions shape what scrap is worth here:
Hurricane season (June–November) floods the market with storm debris metal — damaged fencing, gutters, AC units, roofing. More supply can temporarily soften prices, but it also means more total value available if you’re cleaning up.
The construction cycle in Broward and Miami-Dade drives demand. When cranes are up across downtown Fort Lauderdale, mills want more steel and copper — and prices respond.
Transportation costs matter because South Florida is far from most domestic mills. Diesel prices and trucking rates get baked into what yards can pay.
How to Check Prices Before You Come In
Here’s the practical workflow:
- Sort and weigh roughly at home so you know what you have.
- Call +1 954-762-9100 for today’s buying prices on your specific metals.
- Ask about grading — “I have about 40 pounds of what I think is #1 copper pipe, some with solder — how would you grade it?”
- Bring a photo ID — Florida law requires it for every scrap sale.
That’s it. No surprises, no wasted trip.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the price of scrap metal today in Fort Lauderdale?
It changes daily with commodity markets. As a benchmark, COMEX copper was around $6.52/lb on October 21, 2026 — but that’s the exchange price, not a yard’s buying price. Call Fort Lauderdale Scrap at +1 954-762-9100 for today’s actual prices.
How much is copper per pound right now?
Copper grades price differently — bare bright pays most, then #1, #2, then insulated wire. Southeast yard ranges for bare bright were roughly $5.09–$5.61/lb in late October 2026 (market reference, not our price). Call us for today’s number.
What is the most valuable scrap metal to sell?
For common scrap, bare bright copper wire consistently tops the per-pound list, followed by red brass, yellow brass, and clean aluminum extrusions. Among all metals, precious metals (gold, silver from electronics) are worth more per ounce, but they’re rarely found in quantity.
Why do scrap metal prices change every day?
They track global commodity exchanges (COMEX, LME), which move on supply, demand, currency, tariffs, and investor sentiment — the same forces that move stock prices. Local factors like transport costs and regional construction demand add another layer.
Where can I check current scrap metal prices?
Exchange benchmarks are public (COMEX, LME), and sites like iScrap App publish regional yard-reported prices. But the only number that matters is what your local yard pays today — call +1 954-762-9100.
Is it better to sell copper as insulated wire or stripped?
Stripped (bare bright) almost always pays more per pound of copper content — often enough to justify the labor. A basic wire stripper costs under $30 and pays for itself within a few loads.
How much are aluminum cans worth?
Cans (UBC grade) are the lowest-priced aluminum — the money is in volume. Save them up; a trash bag full isn’t worth the trip, but a truck bed is.
Do scrap yards update their prices daily?
Reputable ones do, because the underlying markets move daily. If a yard quotes you a price from last week’s list without checking, that’s a red flag. We price off current markets every day.