Copper Prices Zigzagged Wildly When Almost No One Was Trading
- Volatility surged on Monday when U.S. exchanges were closed
- Copper prices swung almost $100 in 30 minutes on the LME
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When copper went haywire late Monday evening in London, all but a few die-hard traders in China were asleep. The European workday was ending and Americans had a public holiday.
For traders still watching their screens, the reason behind whipsawing moves in London copper was obvious: an algorithmic trading system had gone off the rails, said Guy Wolf, global head of market analytics at commodities brokerage Marex Spectron Group Ltd.