The beneficiaries of the London Metal Exchange's proposal to close the ring, incentivize electronic trade and change its margin methodology are likely to be algorithmic traders and banks, a floor trader at the exchange said.
Daniel Messinger, deputy head of trading at LME ring dealer Sucden Financial, said that these market participants already have a significant influence on LME trading.
"It's virtually impossible for us to put an outright order in on LMESelect without the algorithmic traders jumping in front of us," Messinger told Fastmarkets. "We're servicing trade and industry clients - it's not an equity or a cash-settled market, we're a fundamentally-driven niche market, and brokers still have an important role to play."
The
144-year old exchange is asking for views on a number of issues detailed in a discussion paper, with the consultation period due to end on Friday March 19.
The LME has been temporarily closed for the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Incentivizing electronic trade would also likely add more retail investors to the market, potentially the r/WallStreetBets-type investors who would probably like more of a...