London Metal Traders Set Prices at Home as Ring Falls Silent
- Ring-dealers helped in switch to electronic pricing in March
- Firms must weather pandemic before trading floor reopens
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For more than a century, the world’s metals prices were set at a daily shouting match between a dozen or so traders sitting in a circle in the heart of the City of London. Then the coronavirus struck.
As the U.K. imposed a lockdown in mid-March, the London Metal Exchange’s trading floor, known as “the Ring,” fell silent for the first extended period since World War II. Traders swapped the barked commands and hand gestures that set global benchmarks for markets including copper, aluminum and zinc for a frenzied mix of phone calls, instant messenger chats and screen trading.