Who Is the ‘Big Shot’ Behind Nickel’s Bad Short?: QuickTake

Even the roller-coaster world of commodities trading has rarely seen anything like nickel’s spectacular blow-out. The metal that ends up in goods from kitchen appliances to electric-vehicle batteries rocketed 250% in just two days, prompting a trading halt in London March 8 and leaving a short-squeezed Chinese tycoon, Xiang Guangda, facing potential losses in the billions of dollars. The founder of Tsingshan Holding Group Co. is suddenly famous well beyond the niche metal he’s come to dominate. He is nickel’s big short, and now he has to decide whether and how to unwind a bet that’s gone terribly wrong. ...