LME Looks to Curb Big Bets as Energy Trader Billions Rock Metals
Traders, brokers and clerks on the trading floor of the open outcry pit at the London Metal Exchange on March 11.
Photographer: Benjamin Cremel/AFP/Getty Images
The London Metal Exchange is discussing imposing curbs on big positions that would outlaw the sort of outsized bets that have rocked the markets in recent months.
The LME, which hosts global benchmark prices for key industrial metals such as aluminum, copper and nickel, has been discussing the appropriate level for position limits in informal conversations with market participants, according to people familiar with the matter. It has suggested it could seek to prevent traders from taking positions in the nearby month’s contracts larger than the total inventory, the people said, asking not to be named as the talks are private.