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That hasn’t stopped him from garnering a loyal pursuing successful China for his Warren Buffett-like online musings connected concern philosophy, keenly parsed by anyone anxious to emulate a strategy person to that of a accepted Western hedge money than the much speculative approach of homegrown traders.
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A bully capitalist indispensable “let go of his ain ego and beryllium little obsessed, and past take the close targets and beryllium stubborn,” Bian wrote successful 1 of his periodic posts in January. “When choosing targets, absorption connected trends. When implementing projects, absorption connected timing. When maintaining projects, absorption connected costs.”
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His lieutenants occasionally constitute up their own “reflections” connected the institution site.
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Bian declined to remark for this story. Zhongcai did not respond to emailed queries. Bloomberg utilized bourse information and conversations with aggregate concern associates, rivals and different traders to physique a representation of his operations and trading.
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Seeing Red
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Bian isn’t unsocial successful seeing an upward trajectory for copper, an concern metallic captious for the electrification of the world. The semipermanent dynamics of the vigor modulation and constricted excavation supply have agelong been highlighted by bulls. Commodity traders successful the past fewer months person been chasing gains from Trump’s copper tariff threat, which has drawn cargoes to US warehouses and left the remainder of the satellite short. Mercuria Energy Group Ltd.’s metals boss Kostas Bintas, 1 of the much outspoken boosters, suggested successful March that copper could scope $12,000 oregon $13,000 a ton, good supra erstwhile records and existent levels person to $9,500.
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Still, a much volatile marketplace has made the metal’s adjacent determination hard to predict, while prices at historically precocious levels are besides investigating the resilience of ample carnal consumers successful China.
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Bian has been successful and retired of copper before. He held short positions done overmuch of 2024, adjacent arsenic the remainder of the satellite took a rosier presumption of the Chinese economy. Just earlier the US predetermination successful November, helium began a switched to an emphatic agelong position, successful anticipation of a Trump triumph that could punctual concern in local manufacturing, and of Chinese economical stimulus efforts.
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He accelerated his purchases from aboriginal January, for his ain concern and with managed funds, with Zhongcai holdings reaching a highest adjacent 40,000 lots, oregon 200,000 tons of the metal, successful aboriginal April, earlier Trump began his escalation of tariffs, exchange information shows. He aboriginal moved immoderate of the brokerage’s positions to CME Group’s Comex, to capture US turbulence, 2 of the radical acquainted with his investments said. As astatine the extremity of April, Zhongcai’s copper bet generated a full nett of astir $200 million, according to the Bloomberg calculation.
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According to the people, helium currently holds nary abbreviated positions successful copper.
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Bian has concentrated his bets successful Shanghai, a determination that yet proved lucky. When copper prices concisely tumbled amid tariff uncertainties past month, Chinese markets were closed for a nationalist holiday, sparing Bian and different Shanghai-based traders from the selloff and rebound.
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Some of his investors person backed retired since then, 2 of the radical said, rattled by the commercialized warfare and fears of a planetary recession.
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But Bian has increased his ain agelong positions successful copper successful the past month in Shanghai and beyond, telling backers that helium sees economical resilience successful China and a continued emergence for the metal. Rival traders accidental his is besides a stake connected China’s displacement to a higher-tech — and truthful copper-hungry — economy, and connected the ample liquidity to enactment it.
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The presumption “is not large capable to distort the market, but it does provide a uncommon penetration into Bian’s strategy,” said Jia Zheng, caput of trading astatine Shanghai Soochow Jiuying Investment Management Co. “People successful the marketplace person been tracking his golden and copper trades closely.”
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