Lithium carbonate futures main contract has been in the red for five consecutive trading days.

On December 25th, the main lithium carbonate futures contract 2605 closed at a high of 127,880 yuan/ton in intraday trading, hitting a new high since March of last year, and has been in the red for 5 consecutive trading days. At the same time, the amount of funds deposited in lithium carbonate futures has approached the 30 billion yuan mark, ranking fourth among commodity futures. In response to the recent sharp rise in lithium carbonate futures, the Guangzhou Futures Exchange has adjusted the trading instructions for related contracts, including minimum order quantities, trading limits, etc. Specifically: first, starting from December 26th, the minimum opening order quantity for lithium carbonate futures related contracts has been adjusted from 1 lot to 5 lots, while the minimum closing order quantity remains 1 lot; second, non-futures company members or clients in lithium carbonate futures related contracts are not allowed to exceed 400 lots or 800 lots in single-day open positions, while hedging and market-making transactions have no limits on single-day open positions, and accounts with actual control relationships are managed as one account. Several analysts interviewed said that the market sentiment for future demand in the lithium carbonate spot market is optimistic, and the bullish sentiment has driven lithium prices to continue to strengthen. At present, various types of investors are participating actively, with a noticeable increase in funds. In addition, the Guangzhou Futures Exchange has taken relevant measures, so traders should be alert to the risk of corrections. Data from the Guangzhou Futures Exchange website shows that the trading volume of the top 20 positions in the main 2605 contract has increased for the past 3 trading days, with 106.15 million hands traded on December 25th, 113.67 million hands on December 24th, and before December 23rd, the top 20 positions had always been below 900,000 lots. On December 25th, the buy orders of the top 20 positions reached 418,200 lots, while the sell orders were 493,800 lots. Chen Jing, a lithium carbonate researcher at Galaxy Futures, told reporters that recently, the trend of lithium carbonate futures has been strong, attracting more traders to participate, with a noticeable entry of participants with funds exceeding 100,000 yuan; at the same time, industrial customers entered the market early for hedging, with the possibility of continuously adding margin, which may be the main reason for the recent increase in the open positions of the main contract.