For this contract, Zhong Shi naturally would not sign, even if Stan Mensen came to call several times, Zhong Shi did not agree, Stan Mensen also realized that the trap in his contract was seen through by Zhong Shi, and finally the matter was settled.

In the U.S. Treasury futures market, the long-term short positions are constantly switching the main contracts, because this is a game between two countries, if he rashly mixes in it, a little carelessness is likely to be shattered.

……

London, the City of the City, not far from the metal exchange in an office building, the twenty-five floors just can be not far away from the Thames River scenery, this height is not too high in the high-rise financial city, but not too low, when the weather is clear, you can see the scenery of the nearby twenty or thirty miles clearly, but such weather conditions are rare.

It was Thursday, 31st March 94, and it was a sunny day, with a clear sky and a long whistle from the Thames in the distance, and a block-sized car shuttling back and forth on the spider-web-like road from the upper floors, indicating that it had been another busy day.

Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, Yasuo Hamanaka watched all this, and couldn't help but feel like he was in control of everything. He had a typical oriental face, a slightly short stature, narrow eyes, and a pair of large, wide-rimmed gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his low nose.

It is such an ordinary face that can no longer be ordinary, but it controls most of the trading volume of the London copper futures market. Especially in both the on-the-floor and telephone markets, his peers even refer to him as "Mr. Five Percent", meaning that he and his team control 5% of the global copper trading volume.

Yasuo Hamanaka belongs to the Nonferrous Financial Trading Department of the Sumitomo Foundation of Japan based in London, where he is the head of the trading department and the chief trader. He was 46 years old, but he had been in the international copper market for 23 years, and since he joined Sumitomo Trading Company at the age of 22, he has been trading copper, and by the end of the 70s, he came to London to make futures contracts for tin and nickel, and soon to 83. His trading volume reached 10,000 tons per year. That is, 400 futures contracts, and by the end of the eighties, he had become a big player in the market.

"Bell...... Bell ...... "When Big Ben struck thirteen times in the distance, Yasuo Hamanaka's office door was softly knocked a few times. Then came a young face. After he walked in, he first bowed 90 degrees to Yasuo Hamanaka, who was still standing outside the floor-to-ceiling window and looking at the scenery. Then he said: "Minister, the second phase of the auction has ended, and the settlement price of copper is $1,896. ”

Floor trading on the LME is the exchange price outcry by floor dealers. There are two trading sessions in the morning, copper trading hours are 12:00 and 12:30, each trading session lasts for five minutes, and the price formed in the second trading session is generally regarded as the spot price, so it has attracted attention from all parties.

Due to the special trading system of the LME, the trading volume on the floor is not large, and the 24-hour non-stop telephone market is the main market, but because the price of the second trading session is closely related to the settlement price and spot price, investors who trade copper are very concerned about this price.

"Hmm......" Yasuo Hamanaka snorted noncommittally, and then said slowly, "What's the latest movement in the market?" ”

As the main force of bulls in the market, we must pay close attention to the daily market movements.

"Recently, the contract close to delivery has a tendency to amplify, but not much, because of the close delivery, both sides of the transaction have closed their positions, and now the contract close to delivery is only a few or dozens of hands per day, and we have found through research that the LME inventory during this period has a decreasing trend, and someone may be storing spot."

"In addition to this, the economic data of the United States for the first quarter is about to come out, judging from the data released in previous months, the rapid growth of the US economy is likely to drive the housing start rate in the United States ......"

"In addition, the price of crude oil has risen rapidly during this period, and yesterday the price of NYMEX crude oil rushed to $15, setting a new high since the bankruptcy of the German metal......"

The factors mentioned by this young man are all factors that have a great impact on copper prices, among which the LME inventory is published daily, reflecting the inventory situation to the market for the next day's market reference. The consumption of countries such as the United States, Japan and repair accounts for a large proportion of global copper production, especially the use of copper in pipelines in the construction industry, so the housing start rate in the United States has also become an important factor affecting the price of shijie copper.

As for the connection between crude oil prices and copper prices, it is precisely because they are both internationally important raw materials, and the demand between them also reflects the good or bad of the economy, so there is a positive correlation between the two to a certain extent. Due to the special regime of the copper market, the reaction of copper prices is slightly slower than that of the oil market, so the price of crude oil is also closely watched by copper investors.

"What is the reason for this? Was it the result of the eventual closure of those positions in German metals? Or is it because of fundamentals? Yasuo Hamanaka's body was shocked, and then he turned around and looked at the young man standing in front of the door sharply.

"This ......" the young man thought for a while, and said with some uncertainty: "I asked the people in the crude oil trading department, and the point they gave was that the bears who suppressed the German metal withdrew from the market, causing the bulls to rebound, after all, the Federal Reserve only raised interest rates again this month, and the market is unlikely to go against the bullshang." ”

Yasuo Hamanaka walked to the large desk, lay down on the comfortable sofa chair, waved his hand and motioned for the young man to go out, and after the young man gently closed the door, he picked up the phone, dialed a number, and whispered in Japanese: "President, there has been a wave of market in the copper market recently, and I need a lot of copper." ”

Yasuo Hamanaka, who has been working in the market for a long time, has keenly discovered the market from several messages from young people, which can be seen from the Federal Reserve's recent two consecutive interest rate hikes, so he intends to manipulate the copper market again. He had played this trick many times, and it was because of Sumitomo Corporation's constant supply of copper that he was able to manipulate the market with impunity.

"Hamanaka-san, are you sure?" An old voice came from the phone, speaking in a tone that seemed to be questioning, but in fact it was just a routine, and in the past few years, Hamanaka had sold a lot of copper by inflating the price of copper contracts, so that Sumitomo Corporation, as a copper exporter, made several times the profit of selling at the current price.

Japanese traders based in London usually change every three to five years, and Hamanaka's ability to stay in London for decades has already won the trust of the top management of the Japanese headquarters, which is not only a personal relationship, but more importantly, his record in the market.

"Sure!" "I need 50,000 tons of electrolytic copper that meets LME specifications, and I may need more later, depending on the situation." ”

"Good. Hamanaka-san, I'll report to the group headquarters. There was silence on the phone for a long time, and then he simply agreed, and then the voice sounded again: "Hamanaka-san, I heard that London has warned you, what is going on?" ”

Hamanaka Tainan's heart tightened, and then he smiled: "This is their usual trick, first to do the opposite of me in the market, and then let out the wind to say that I violated the rules, and even suffered from the exchange investigation or something, zuihou suppressed the copper price, making their short positions profitable." At the end of last year, the exchange also announced that it was concerned about the size of my positions, which is an unspoken rule in the industry, and as long as I have the ability to close or close before the delivery date, they have nothing to say. ”

"Is that so? Alright then, I'll get the copper thing out of for you as soon as possible. Hamanaka-san, I'll help you keep it down for the investigation, and you must pay attention to this. After a few innocuous words, the phone finally hung up.

Yasuo Hamanaka was relieved after confirming that there was a beep on the other end of the phone, he was well aware of some of the "rumors" about him in the market, and knew that some were simply true, for example, he once asked a brokerage company to ask them to provide proof of false transactions, but the so-called Tiangao Emperor was far away, and the Japanese side could not give up the huge profits contributed by the nonferrous financial trading department every year, so that the matter did not break out.

……

Almost on the same day, Zhong Shi, who was far away in the United States, also talked to Andrew in London on the phone: "Andrew, how is the copper purchase over there?" "In the past month, X-Spatial Fund has quietly bought copper futures contracts expiring in March on the market, and did not close the position two trading days before expiration, but chose to deliver.

"A total of 500 contracts were acquired, with an average price of $1,885, and $23.56 million has been spent." Andrew on the phone sighed. He didn't understand why Zhong Shi had thought of making physical deliveries, which undoubtedly cost them a lot of money, and at the same time, the copper from these deliveries had to occupy a lot of space.

At Bellstone's behalf, Andrew had already rented a warehouse in London that could hold 100,000 tons of copper for a one-year lease at a cost of £200,000. Although electrolytic copper has a patina phenomenon due to oxidation, it is still easy to preserve.

"No, this speed is far from enough, you have to increase the speed of absorbing physical copper in the market, at least 100 million dollars of copper is enough for us to operate in the market, understand?" Zhong Shi subconsciously shook his head, and then remembered that his action was purely superfluous, and he couldn't help but be a little funny.

During this time, he has been keeping an eye on the price of copper futures, and the task of absorbing copper has been entrusted to Andrew, who is most familiar with the situation in London and is naturally the most suitable person. (To be continued......)

PS: Today is thirty, and it is finally a holiday, so I wish you all a happy Year of the Horse in advance.