The London Metal Exchange has just finished its trial to calculate nickel prices using a volume weighted average price (VWAP) method on the exchange's electronic trading platform.
If early indications are anything to go by, metals market participants did not embrace this method of price discovery in the way some had anticipated. For three months since Monday March 18, closing prices for nickel carry trades continued to be based on ring trading, with a four-minute kerb session lasting from 16:55 to 16:59, allowing for a one-minute VWAP period. Some market participants said the trial inevitably spelled the beginning of the end of the open outcry trading floor. But LME chief executive officer Matthew Chamberlain says the exchange is open-minded about the outcome of the trial, which arose as a result of the LME's 2017 strategy discussion paper. "I can say with all genuine honesty that this isn't a pre-ordained conclusion; we genuinely want to get the data," he said during a panel discussion at the recent Fastmarkets copper seminar in New...