中國對衝基金推低全球銅價

Until a few days ago, only copper market cognoscenti had heard of Shanghai Chaos. But now the Chinese hedge fund is the talk of the metals trading world.

幾天前，只有銅市老手才聽說過上海混沌投資公司(Shanghai Chaos)。但如今，全球金屬交易市場都在討論這家中國對衝基金。

While it might sound like a 1980s pop band, the fund is believed to have been a key influence in this week’s precipitous fall in copper, according to people familiar with the situation.

該公司的名字聽上去可能像是上世紀80年代的流行樂隊，但據知情人士稱，據信，該基金是本週銅價大幅下挫的主要推手。

Shanghai Chaos Investing Co is one of a coterie of funds exercising a growing impact on global metals markets, where the price of everything from aluminium drinks cans to lead batteries is set.

上海混沌投資公司是少數對全球金屬市場發揮越來越大影響的基金之一，從鋁製飲料罐到鉛電池等各種金屬的價格都在這個市場確定。

Their trading muscle was seen to spectacular effect on Wednesday when copper suffered its biggest one-day fall in three years. Aggressive selling of futures contracts by Chinese funds, first on the London Metal Exchange and then on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, sent copper to its lowest level since 2009.

這些基金的交易實力在週三產生驚人效應，當天銅價遭遇3年來最大單日跌幅。中國基金大舉拋售期銅——先是在倫敦金屬交易所(LME)，然後是在上海期貨交易所(Shanghai Futures Exchange)——將銅價推低至自2009年以來的最低水平。

“If you think American traders are aggressive, these guys are three times as big and as fast and crazy,” said a senior trader. “It’s like they’re on speed.”

“如果你認爲美國交易者大膽的話，那麼這些人的規模、速度和瘋狂程度是美國人的3倍，”一位資深交易員表示，“他們好像在加速。”

It is unclear how much money the funds made betting against copper on Wednesday or whether they have closed their bearish bets.

目前還不清楚，這些基金週三用多少資金押注於銅價下跌，也不清楚他們是否平掉了空頭押注。

But traders said the assault was “beautifully” timed, coming at a time of jitters on commodity markets because of the collapse in the oil price.

但交易員表示，此次出手在時間上的選擇堪稱“漂亮”，當時由於油價大幅下跌，大宗商品市場出現恐慌情緒。

Shanghai Chaos, founded in 2005, is just one of the Chinese entities active in commodity markets. Others include Dunhe, run by Ye Qingjun, known as China’s George Soros for parlaying a Rmb100,000 mortgage on his home in 2003 into Rmb10bn ($1.6bn) through a bet on a bull market in soyabeans.

上海混沌成立於2005年，是活躍在大宗商品市場上的中國基金之一。其他還有由葉慶均管理的敦和(Dunhe)。2003年，葉慶均將房子抵押出去，獲得10萬元人民幣貸款，通過押注大豆價格上漲，他將資產規模擴大到100億元人民幣（合16億美元），他因此被稱爲中國的喬治•索羅斯(George Soros)。

The aggressive tactics employed by the Chinese funds can have an almost instant effect given the increasing presence of computer-based high-frequency traders that feed off their moves.

這些中國基金採用的激進投資策略可能會產生近乎即刻的效應，因爲越來越多的基於電腦的高頻交易員依賴它們的舉措。

Similar to a sudden drop in March 2014, traders said Wednesday’s slide in copper showed how commodity prices are increasingly being influenced by China, the world’s biggest consumer of raw materials.

與2014年3月的一輪突然下跌類似，交易員表示，週三銅價下跌表明大宗商品價格正越來越多地受到全球最大原材料消費國中國的影響。

Edward Meir, futures broker at INTL FCStone, said: “It used to be that prices were set in Europe and the US and China would follow. Now the trend is moving toward Asia.”

INTL FCStone期貨經紀人愛德華•米爾(Edward Meir)表示：“過去，價格由歐美確定，中國遵循。如今的趨勢是轉向亞洲。”

Dunhe said it did not comment on “things we trade”. Calls to Shanghai Chaos were not returned.

敦和表示，不會對“我們交易的內容”置評。記者致電上海混沌也未得到回覆。