With respect, spend some time reading the notices and also researching more widely how the LME operates and you might come to appreciate that it's not as simplistic as you suggest.
Here are some pointers for those who are genuinely interested in being informed:
- LME Notice 22/064*.
- LME Notice 22/068*.
- Also look into the various available LME trading venues (mechanisms) and trading times utilised (via the interwebs)*.
(*Links deliberately not supplied (to encourage some dyor), but are easily found with only the slightest amount of effort.)
For those who have made an effort but are still struggling, here are some further pointers:
- LMEselect: Electronic trading platform (continuous trading currently between 08:00 - 19:00 London time);
- Ring trading: 'Old school' open outcry trading in a physical circle (ring) (non-continuous trading between 11:40 - 17:00 London time), comprising:
- Session 1 (pre-lunch): Comprises sub-sessions, being Ring 1 (R1) and Ring 2 (R2). Both are very short 5-minute sub-sessions (i.e. 12:15 - 12:20 and 13:00 - 13:05 London time).
- Session 2 (post-Lunch): Comprises Ring 3 (R3) (also 5-mins, between 15:25 - 15:30) and Kerb Trading (15:50 - 17:00).
- Inter-office telephone trading (24 hours).
Note just how little time is spent on R2 trading when compared to the larger context of all available LME Ni-related trading avenues and times.
The Ring 2 (R2) trading in the second half of the pre-lunch session is the one used to establish LME Official Prices for a host of market-related needs that are beyond the needs/understanding of casual followers. When a Disruption Event occurs there are
real and valid arguments that the inclusion of that day's price data could adversely distort those more complex pricing mechanisms. To that end these Official Prices are not calculated. That's why any trades entered into during the R2 trading sub-session are deemed null and void at the end of the day in which a Disruption Event occurs.
R2 trades are the only trades cancelled during as a result of a Disruption Event.To the natural follow-on question around why make the R2 trades in the first place?
Well, if the Disruption Event occurs prior to R2, one should ask just how many trades are likely to occur during R2 (hint: Nil). If the Disruption Event occurs after R2 for the day (i.e. after lunch), then there needs to be a mechanism to cancel any trades during R2, before the Disruption Event occurred.
QED.
(20min delay)