Nickel Trading To Resume In London With Curbs on Wednesday After Week-Long Halt: Report

Nickel trading will resume on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday following a week-long suspension due to a historic short squeeze, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing a notice.

What Happened: The trading will resume with a few curbs at 4 am ET (8 am, London time) on March 16.

The new curbs include daily price limits on nickel and other metals to avoid the wild price swings that led to vast margin calls last week and sent nickel prices to a record high in less than 24 hours.

All metals other than nickel will be subject to a 15% limit in either direction beginning Tuesday, while nickel will be subject to a limit of at least 5% in either direction when trading begins, according to the report.

The exchange will also require all brokers to disclose positions larger than 600 tons, and might ask them for the rationale for their positions.  

See Also: Tesla Rushes To Hike Prices Of Some Model 3, Model Y Cars In US Amid Surging Nickel Prices

Why It Matters: Nickel prices rose to more than $100,000 per tonne on the LME last week after China's Tsingshan Holding Group held a short position in the metal that is a key ingredient to make electric vehicle batteries.

The LME had also reportedly canceled about $3.9 billion of transactions that had taken place when prices moved from $50,000 to more than $100,000 a ton. 

Tesla Inc TSLA, General Motors Co GM, Ford Motor Co F, and other EV makers use nickel to make the batteries. 

Tesla was among the first EV makers to raise prices of some of its models in the United States and China when nickel prices zoomed higher on supply concerns triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.

See Also: EXCLUSIVE: Ford Says Hedged Against Nickel Supplies For 'Next Few Years' To Support 'Ambitious EV Goals'

Price Action: Tesla stock closed 3.6% lower at $66.4 a share on Monday.

Photo by Kreepin Death on Wikimedia