London Metal Exchange faces second lawsuit this week after Jane Street sues over nickel trading fiasco
New York trading firm Jane Street Capital has followed its Wall Street rival Elliot Management in filing a lawsuit against the London Metal Exchange (LME), over its decision to halt trading of nickel and cancel trades in March.
The high-frequency trading firm is suing the LME for $15.3m (£12.2m), after the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) owned metals market’s halted trading of nickel and cancelled trades on 8th March, after prices surged 250 per cent.
Jane Street’s lawsuit comes after Elliot filed a separate $456m claim against the world’s largest metals exchange, which LME said it would “vigorously” contest.
The claims also come as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched a probe into the 145-year-old metal exchange’s decision, as the Bank of England said it would be reviewing decision made by the exchange’s clearing house.
The nickel fiasco came after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine undermined Chinese billionaire Xiang Guangda’s bet that the price of nickel would drop. LME has subsequently faced accusation of cronyism, including from Elliot Management, which accused the market of reversing trades to “save” its “favoured cronies.”