Commentary Away from the battlefields of Ukraine, a battle is taking place on a global exchange for what exactly constitutes a market and their rules. China, long known for manipulating its domestic market and cheating on global markets, is taking that to a new level by protecting Chinese firms from trading losses. The London Metals Exchange (LME) is a futures and forwards commodity market, which traces its origins back to the 16th century and trades primarily basic metals like aluminum, steel, and nickel. Since 2012, the LME has been owned by the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX). The HKEX counts as LME’s effective controlling shareholder through near complete control of the board, the Hong Kong government. Hong Kong is now effectively run by the Chinese Communist Party and it must protect Chinese firms. When the price of nickel nearly doubled in an hour on March 8, the initial thinking was this was …