Now, people familiar with the matter say, the exchange is likely to introduce such measures as position limits and greater transparency. A sharp surge in nickel prices triggered margin call fears at the London Metal Exchange which suspended trading after prices doubled in hours. We expect the LME nickel price to remain volatile in the near term, as the global nickel market finds equilibrium following recent events, S&Ps Sappor added, warning that an elevated risk of another short squeeze hitting the LME nickel market in the near term continued, given the presence of both a dominant warrant-holding position on available LME stocks and Tsingshans short position. In a squeeze, rising prices put traders betting on a drop in an ever-tougher financial position, forcing them or brokers and banks doing business on their behalf to buy the asset, a trade known as short covering that can drive prices even higher. However, for business days 7th and 8th March, they would remain at . Mr Xiang told Chinese news outlet Yicai that Tsingshan did not have any problems with its nickel trading. Tsingshan agreed standstill with JPMorgan-led group of banks, Talks continue on loan facility to backstop short position. Prices of oil, gas, wheat and a range of metals, including aluminium and palladium, have soared since the invasion, ramping up costs for companies and consumers and threatening the nascent recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. For the LME, the future isunclear. Nickel prices on the LME jumped to record highs above $100,000 a tonne on March 8 as Tsingshan bought large amounts to reduce its short positions in the metal, which is used to make stainless steel and electric vehicle batteries. Given that JPMorgan was reported as the biggest trading counterparty against which Tsingshans nickel trades were made, the US bank led the subsequent agreement to arrange a rescue credit facility, secured from various lenders, including China Construction Bank (CCB), to help the Chinese nickel giant address its immediate liquidity squeeze. This market frenzy all came to a head on March 8, when the LMEhaving allowed nickel prices to surge by around 250 percent in just a couple of days and reach an all-time high of $101,365/metric tonne (mt) in intra-day trading, which was more than double the $48,078/mt at which it closed the previous daysuspended all trading of nickel. read more. Why? All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. The LME was forced to suspend nickel trading for the first time since 1988 on March 8 and is trying to facilitate negotiations to net off long and short positions in order to reopen the market. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Cliff Asness, founder of AQR Capital Management,accused the LME, which was for more than a century owned by its members but in 2012 was sold to Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, of stealing money from market participants trading in good faith and giving it to Chinese nickel producers and their banks. LMEs Chamberlain defended canceling the trades. Short-covering trades made last week by the Chinese billionaire contributed to a swift, huge surge. People familiar with the discussions said the exchange would ideally prefer to wait until Xiang has reached a resolution with his banks and brokers. It's been under growing pressure to meet the payments in recent days, the. Some started hurrying to buy back nickel contracts, sending the price of nickel spiraling ever higher. This exact scenario emerged in early March in the LMEs nickel market following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, with Chinese nickel-maker Tsingshan Holding Group the unfortunate short seller in this episode. On Monday, one of Tsingshans brokers a unit of a state-owned Chinese bank failed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in margin calls on its nickel positions. That might have taken down some of the LME 's member-brokers. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. While Mark Thompson, executive vice-chairman at mining-development company Tungsten West, tweeted: The LME is now very likely going to die a slow, self-inflicted death through the loss of confidence in it and its products.. LME brokers and their clients were hit with margin call after margin call. The limits also meant that those buyers seeking to unwind their positions had to join a long queue of sellers waiting to complete their transactions. At the center of the action is Chinese nickel titan Tsingshan Holding Group, the worlds biggest producer of a metal used in stainless steel and .css-1h1us5y-StyledLink{color:var(--interactive-text-color);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.css-1h1us5y-StyledLink:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}electric-vehicle batteries. The Morowali park mainly produces nickel pig iron for stainless steel. Already at an all-time high by 5:42 a.m., it lurched higher in stomach-churning leaps, soaring US$30,000 in a matter of minutes. Xiang Guangda, who controls the worlds largest nickel producer, Tsingshan Holding, and is known as Big Shot in Chinese commodity circles, has closed out part of his companys short position and is considering whether to exit the wager altogether, the people said. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. The LME suspended nickel trading in the early trading session on March 8 after prices more than doubled, breaching $100,000/mt mark and briefly reaching a record high of $101,365/mt. Others in the market may also push up prices in anticipation of that short covering. Tsingshan's difficulties in paying its margin calls, and the company's ongoing bailout negotiations, have put its banks and brokers in a bind, as they have had to make hefty margin calls of their own at the LME to cover their short positions on the exchange. Tsingshan and the LME declined to comment. The tightness in the market had been exacerbated by the presence of an unidentified trader who, according to exchange data, controlled somewhere between 50 per cent and 80 per cent of nickel warehouse warrants monitored by the LME as of last month. Then on March 7, nickels price began its parabolic ascent, surging from US$30,000 a ton to more than US$50,000. He draws a comparison with Silver Thursday, the day in 1980 when an attempt bythe Hunt brothersto corner the silver market came unstuck. call +44 20 3097 8888 support@capital.com. Then, as now, a key factor was the intervention of the exchange. You should never trade more than you can afford to lose. But the effects of the short squeeze are likely to be felt in other ways. The XM Research Desk, manned by market expert professionals, provides live daily updates on all the major events of the global markets in the form of market reviews, forex news, technical analysis, investment topics, daily outlook and daily vidoes. Investors who had booked trades during the chaotic session in the early hours of Tuesdaywere furious. The tycoon whose big short bet on nickel helped trigger one of the most dramatic price spikes in history has told his banks and brokers that he doesnt intend to reduce his position, according to people familiar with the matter. The wild rise of nickel drew comparisons to the short squeezes in meme stocks such as GameStop Corp. that gripped retail investors for much of last year. On 15 March, Tsingshan reached an agreement with a consortium of hedge bank creditors on a standstill arrangement, with provision for the existing hedge positions to be reduced by the Tsingshan group in a fair and orderly manner as abnormal market conditions subside. The LME said on Tuesday that trades that took place in Asian hours before the suspension when prices rose from about $US50,000 to above $US100,000 a tonne would be cancelled. [2] It moved into the Indonesian nickel industry in 2009. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. (Bloomberg) A unit of China Construction Bank Corp was given extra time by the London Metal Exchange to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in margin calls it missed on Monday amid an unprecedented rise in nickel prices, in this case According to people familiar with . Xiangs short position has now racked upbillions of dollars in losses. At $2,250 a tonne, the capital required on 300,000 tonnes of nickel would be $675 million, according to Reuters calculations. It was a classic short squeeze, as the pain for Tsingshan, its brokers, and other shorts created a self-reinforcing cycle. Neither party seems very keen on this idea, however. UNFORGIVEABLE,tweetedMark Thompson, a former trader at Trafigura and Apollo. In an earlier interview with Chinese news outlet Yicai, Xiang blamed "foreigners making some moves" for nickel's price spike. Nickel prices doubled on Tuesday and briefly rose above a record $100,000 a tonne as banks and brokers rushed to close part of a huge position amassed by Xiang Guangda, the billionaire founder of. And it was already heading higher once more in February prior to the outbreak of war in Eastern Europe, partly on renewed interest in the metal as the global economy continued its recovery from the COVID-19 crisis as well as buoyant demand for electric vehicle batteries, of which nickel is a principal component. The difference between trading assets and CFDs. The major market events for the week ahead right in your inbox. The big fear was that Tsingshan would struggle to make margin calls with its bankers, potentially facing billions of dollars in losses. Capital Com is an execution-only service provider. "For the period of the standstill, the participating hedge banks agree not to close out positions against Tsingshan or to make further margin calls in respect of existing positions. At the current price of nickel, the brokers themselves wouldnt be able to pay their margin calls, they told the LME. Is the Strength of Big Tech Regulation Sufficient at Present? articles a month for anyone to read, even non-subscribers! How to Geta Free Flight to Hong Kong in 500,000 Airline Ticket Giveaway, Apple Suppliers Are Racing to Exit China, AirPods Maker Says, Stocks, Bonds Drop as Traders Weigh Data, Fedspeak: Markets Wrap, Microsoft Expands Game Pass as Regulators Fret Over Activision Deal, Cash Is Paying More Than Traditional Stock-Bond Portfolio. President Tayyip Erdogan indicated on Wednesday that elections will be held on May 14, sticking to his previous plan for the vote with a date just over three months after a devastating earthquake killed more than 45,000 people in Turkey. And that was just for the portion of the short position it held directly on the exchangeabout 30,000 tons. Others took to social media. read more. Margin call ini membuat harga nikel meledak dan menembus US$ 100 ribu per ton dari hanya US$ 25 ribu per ton. Most analysts sided with Xiang, at least in the medium term, believing that nickel productionled by Tsingshan and its competitors in Indonesiawould outpace demand. According to industry members association International Nickel Study Group (INSG), stainless steel production accounts for over two-third of nickel demand in 2020, while the use in batteries for EVs remained low at 6%. For a while, it wasunclear which view of the market would prevail. read more. You should do your own research, looking at the latest news, technical analysis, and analyst commentary before trading. But recent events have certainly injected a dose of volatility into the market. To gauge the magnitude of the problem, an unnamed source familiar with the trades told the, Nickel trading did resume on March 16, but the exchanges electronic trading system malfunctioned on several occasions after resumption, while preset daily limits on price movements (5 percent on the 16, The LME has been asleep at the wheel, according to Andrew Mitchell, director of nickel research at consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, who spoke to the, But the LME has defended its actions, arguing that the decisions it took were made with full regard to regulatory due process and in the interests of the market as a whole, according to a spokesman for the exchange, who spoke to UK financial-news publication, Manuel A. Muoz European Central Bank (ECB), Miguel Moreno Tripp EGADE Business School | Crowe Global, Flix Villatoro Universidad Adolfo Ibez Business School, Kenneth D. Simonson Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), Dalia A. Kader Commercial International Bank (CIB), Davi Ferreira Veronese University of So Paulo, Maria Paula Bertran University of So Paulo, Thanos Andrikopoulos University of Hull, Tim Johnson JB Super Yachts | TJB Private Travel. Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you. . This will allow the trader to buy the security back at a lower price, return it to the lender and hopefully pocket a handsome profit. The Wall Street Journal, which previously reported the talks, also said Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) were among the banks looking to reach agreement. Traders must deposit cash, known as margin, with their brokers on a regular basis to cover potential losses on their positions. Our fundamental responsibility is market stability, he told Bloomberg TV. The fallout was immediate. The broker was able to settle the margin calls on Tuesday after several clients, including Tsingshan, got loans to cover their positions, one of the people said. Several large brokers got margin calls of close to US$1 billion each over the course of the day. Read on for our analysis on the recent LME nickel short squeeze and the market outlook. 3.1 What is the margin call to Tsingshan? China's Tsingshan Holding Group has reached agreements with two companies to swap its . Tsingshan, a privately-held company, and other 'shorts' faced larger margin calls on their short bets after the LME raised the amount of money companies had to deposit with it to cover their exposure to falling nickel prices, the three sources said. A record-breaking rally in nickel prices that led the London Metal Exchange to halt trading on Tuesday is putting increased pressure on the Chinese stainless steel producer Tsingshan and its billionaire co-founder. Tsingshan, the world's largest stainless steel producer, is rumoured to have built a big short position in nickel before a 250% rally in [] While Russias nickel exports havent been targeted by sanctions, U.S. and European buyers have nonetheless sought alternatives to Russian sources. As the price rose through the London day after offices in Asia had closed, Tsingshan started struggling to pay, the people say. ", Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England are talking to the London Metal Exchange about the resumption of a fair and orderly market in nickel, the FCA said on Monday in response to a request for comment. And never trade money that you cannot afford to lose. A stressful week in markets got even worse for some metals traders when the main exchange's software misfired by generating erroneous margin calls, adding to the chaos at a time when brokers . The price spike left Tsingshan exposed to $8 billion USD of trading losses whilst struggling to meet their margin calls. Metal industry sources said that for the duration of the standstill agreement Tsingshan, the world's largest nickel producer, may not have to buy any more metal to cover its short positions. In late February and early March, Tsingshan, which had sales of 352 billion yuan ($56 billion) last year, paid its margin calls on time. Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. US manufacturing sector contracts again; raw material prices rise, U.S. House panel approves bill giving Biden power to ban TikTok, Additional reporting by Eric Onstad in London, by the Beijing newsroom and Min Zhang in Beijing; editing by Carmel Crimmins, Exclusive: Tesla readies revamp of Model Y codenamed 'Juniper', EV startups from Lucid to Rivian see demand fade, supply chain issues linger, Lilly to cut some list prices by 70% and offer $25 insulin, Exclusive: Biden administration to move on Midwest ethanol-blended gasoline rule this week -sources, Exclusive news, data and analytics for financial market professionals. , known as margin, with their brokers on a regular basis to cover potential losses on positions... The exchangeabout 30,000 tons Regulation Sufficient at Present banks, Talks continue on loan facility to backstop short.... Portion of the short position has now racked upbillions of dollars in losses resolution with his banks brokers... 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