London Metal Exchange trading glitch caps wild week for global metals traders

The delay came at a moment when nerves have been fraying in metals markets as participants cope with sudden and extreme moves

• London Metal Exchange trading delayed by one hour due to technical issues
• Delay followed a week of high volatility and record copper price gains
• Copper fell 3.9% after trading resumed, mirroring declines on Shanghai exchange

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The London Metal Exchange suffered a one-hour delay to the start of trading on Friday after a technical problem, causing confusion among traders after a week of intense volatility and eye-watering price gains.

Electronic trading on the world’s biggest metals bourse — which sets global prices for vital commodities from copper to zinc and aluminum — got underway belatedly at 10:00 a.m. Hong Kong time.

The delay came at a moment when nerves have been fraying in metals markets as participants cope with sudden and extreme moves. On Thursday, LME copper jumped 11%, its biggest intraday gain since 2008, to hit a record above $14,500 a ton.

Several traders said there was already speculation on Friday over who might be sitting on losses when many received a notice from the LME announcing the hold-up. A prolonged outage could have complicated issues for those wanting to exit positions.

Calls to the LME officials in London were not answered outside working hours. A spokesman for Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., which owns the LME, did not have an immediate comment on the incident.

Trading pauses or delays are not entirely unheard of across global exchanges. A major data center malfunction took down markets operated by CME Group Inc. for more than 10 hours in December, halting trading across equities, foreign exchange, bonds and commodities.

But reliability has been a major focus for the LME since 2022, when a crisis in the nickel market triggered by a massive short squeeze led to some trades being declared void. That episode prompted an overhaul of regulations.

Global metals markets have enjoyed a dramatic start to 2026, fueled by an intense wave of speculative trading, especially in China. The Shanghai Futures Exchange is having its busiest ever month in volume terms for six base metals, and frenzied trading there has driven LME prices higher.

After the LME opened on Friday, copper fell as much 3.9%, with other metals also dropping. That followed declines during the previous hour on the SHFE.