The futures market, like the stock market, does not have to wait for the rumors to become reality, and the price has already coincided with that expected reality in the first place.

Before the news that China was going to buy 100 million tons of steel, the price of futures had fallen to $200 a ton.

This price has stopped there because it has gradually fallen to this lowest point while oil production has continued to increase and consumption has remained unchanged.

This price became the standard price of futures, that is, Qiao Zhi's short buying price was $200 per ton.

This price is also Mittal's short sale price, which means that he sells $200 per ton of steel for delivery by the delivery date.

This means that no matter how big the market changes, even if it is as high as $1,000 for a ton of steel, or as low as $1 for a ton of steel, Qiao Zhi will get it for $200.

As for Mittal, he only gets $200 for selling a ton of steel.

Only at this level did Qiao Zhi pass through Jiang Yidian and Jiang Yi only through Baosteel to release the rumors, and China wanted to increase the consumption of 100 million tons of steel.

When this news entered the steel market, it immediately caused an uproar!

Perhaps from other perspectives, the impact of China's steel market is not great, but in terms of consumption, the influence is absolutely incomparable.

China's output is already the world's first, but it is still in short supply.

The huge volume of civilian, commercial and military has always had a strong impact on the world market.

Another point is that the upper limit of the demand for steel in the domestic market of China will always be a mystery, and no one can know.

They only vaguely know that the current total consumption is the result of restrictions in various aspects.

If it is liberalized, it will be easy to double or triple the current consumption.

Therefore, when I heard that the market was going to increase the demand for 100 million tons of steel, many people's interpretation was that China had lifted some restrictions, so the demand increased significantly.

Of course, there is another part of the population that does not believe it.

They believe that China's world's largest steel production has saturated the demand of that relatively closed market, and there is no longer 100 million tons of demand.

Then, this figure of 100 million tons is either a rumor, or a smoke bomb deliberately created by them, which is not credible.

However, the futures market does not float according to rumors, but according to the activity of active users there in response to the news.

This feedback is not an opinion, but an order.

To measure whether a message about an increase in demand is accepted by the market and how it is digested, it is enough to see where the price is going.

As a result, as soon as the news came out, only an hour later, the price of the international steel futures market has increased to $300 per ton of steel.

If this increase were on weekdays, it would be limited by the market mechanism.

This market mechanism is to limit the daily increase or decrease, while causing excessive market volatility.

The basic practice is to forcibly stop trading as soon as a certain level is exceeded.

However, there is an exception to this restrictive measure, which is commonly used in all futures markets.

Otherwise, this restriction will be lifted closer to the delivery date.

The reason is that at this time, the price in the spot market must also fluctuate in the same direction with the same pace.

Removing such price limits allows the two to merge.

It just so happens that steel futures are approaching the delivery date, so this price limit has been lifted in accordance with the regulations.

Therefore, there is no limit to the price now, and no one has come to prohibit the price increase to 10,000 US dollars a ton.

At any time in the market, there are speculators, steel futures are relatively scarce, but all those who come in, are big customers, they are huge transactions, and every small fluctuation in futures prices will make them hurt their bones.

So the price increase of a hundred dollars makes the short sellers cry wolf, and makes the short buyers look up to the sky and laugh!

Just this one step of movement, the amount of wins and losses has already been in the thousands.

In a luxury villa in London, Mittal Mittal, the owner and helmsman of the Mittal Steel Company, is pacing there.

His brow, which had always been bright and broad, was now tightly locked.

Today's situation is more stressful than that crucial acquisition.

And within this hour, he lost 30 billion, making him, the fifth richest man in the world, a steel giant, feel unbearable.

Of course, he knew, that wasn't a real loss.

The true loss will not be determined until after the expiration of the contract, and it is likely to be much better than the current situation.

The emergence of this situation really caught him off guard, or in terms of time, he didn't have time to do anything at all.

The immediate priority now is not to be surprised and worried, but to take action to counteract adverse market movements.

Since he has so many shorts in his hands, of course, he has some countermeasures to prepare for how he should respond if an adverse situation arises.

Fundamentally, these countermeasures are aimed at driving down prices.

Driving down prices, the futures market, like the traditional market, either increases production or reduces demand.

Because of his previous short selling, his mentality and actions are diametrically opposed to his identity as a major steel producer.

Normally, he is a producer, of course, he wants the price to rise, the higher the better, and the higher the dollar, he earns one more dollar.

Now, if the price rises, his own 10,000 tons will not be profitable, because he has already sold it beforehand.

And for every dollar he sells, he loses a dollar, because he has to buy at the current market price to pay off the debt.

Now for him, the 200 million tons of short-sold steel contracts are like a giant devil who has opened his bloody mouth and is ready to devour him at any time.

As the world's No. 1 steel giant, his influence on Tianzhu steel production is unparalleled.

Tianzhu itself is also very good, in addition to him, the world's first steel company, there is also a top ten, another is also in the top twenty, this moment of life and death, of course, they have to give up their previous suspicions, side by side, take concerted action.

The first action to counter the rise in prices was announced by Tianzhu's Iron and Steel Industry Association, which had changed its plan to increase production significantly, but the consumption of steel had changed dramatically, and it was in the opposite direction.

In other words, the consumption of Tianzhu has decreased.

In order to be credible, they also listed the specific reductions in consumption in major categories, that is, the specific reductions in civilian construction, industrial and commercial building materials, military industry, and so on.

Overall, according to the adjusted steel consumption estimates, Tianzhu's steel consumption this year is 50% lower than that of the previous year.