mas7575 wrote: With all due respect, I think that you might be missing the point here. Just my honest opinion, of course, and no disrespect meant to any who might disagree.
While the small brokerages were saved by the shutdown and cancellation of trading activity by the LME, all parties on the short side of trading dramatically and unjustly benefitted. They manipulated the market for many years, maintaining undue negative influence on Ni prices (a somewhat illiquid market even before last week) and "shaved a little off the top" each month for their troubles.
If XG and other big players (with big voices) in this travesty hadn't stood to lose billions, the losers in this trade would have been allowed to fail. JP Morgan Chase and others are simply too big to fail , and do risky business/transactions like this on a regular basis, while knowing this full well.
Sadly, I am not heartened one bit by the events of the past week. If any trader (big or small, personal or institutional) ends up on the wrong side of a short/long/other trade, they lose. It's simple. For the system to work, the rules have to be the same for all participants.
Best to all participants,
mas75