![Day drinking, 'Big Shot' and billions of dollars: How the nickel market imploded](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/220331160336-london-metal-exchange-file-restricted-022822-super-tease.jpg)
Day drinking, 'Big Shot' and billions of dollars: How the nickel market imploded
CNN
When a trade jumps by 250% over the course of days, investors typically pop bottles of champagne. Between Friday, March 4 and Tuesday March 8, nickel futures did just that — soaring on the London Metals Exchange from about $29,000 to $100,000 per ton. But the champagne remains corked, investors are threatening to sue and the LME is hemorrhaging business.
So how did it happen?
The tale that ensues involves billions of dollars, Russia, a Chinese tycoon known as "Big Shot," daytime drinking and a metal exchange stuck between two large rocks without a chisel.
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