London’s Raucous Trading Ring Calls Time on 144-Year History
- London Metal Exchange Ring shut as pandemic struck in March
- Exchange plans a permanent shift to electronic pricing
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Almost every day for the past 144 years, traders engaged in shouting matches at the London Metal Exchange to set the global price of copper and other vital commodities. Now, just as the metals industry gears up for a global boom, one of its most iconic scenes may never return.
The trading floor known as “the Ring” fell silent last year, as Covid-19 spread through the city of London. At one of the last open-outcry trading venues in the world, the raised voices, shared telephones and physical jostling among LME floor dealers made for a social-distancing nightmare.