The Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) has recently completed the delivery month position transfer for overseas traders in nickel futures, marking the full-loop closure of its nickel futures internationalization business—covering trading, clearing, and delivery. Nickel futures and options were officially opened to overseas traders in April 2026, simultaneously becoming available to Qualified Foreign Investors (QFI). Since the opening, the futures market has operated smoothly, with tight linkages between domestic and overseas spot and futures markets, and effective functionality. According to SHFE officials, the international nickel business has seen continuous expansion in overseas participation, with a steady increase in overseas client account openings. A total of 38 overseas intermediaries have completed registration with SHFE, with participants spanning 18 countries and regions worldwide, including industry chain producers, traders, cross-border enterprises, and various financial institutions. The nickel futures market has maintained stable growth in scale, with the delivery system continuously improving. From April 22 to the end of August, average daily trading volume reached 357,000 lots, with average daily open interest at 343,000 lots. Registered brands cover 16 domestic and overseas brands, reflecting a growing willingness among overseas enterprises to participate in the domestic futures market. In August and September 2026, overseas corporate client FREEPOINT COMMODITIES SINGAPORE, through Orient Futures, completed both buy-side and sell-side delivery month position transfers in nickel futures, moving positions into its domestically controlled enterprise, FREEPOINT COMMODITIES Shanghai Co., Ltd. All processes connected seamlessly, achieving "same-day application, same-day transfer," with the transferred positions successfully completing delivery. Mu Siwei, Global CEO of FREEPOINT, noted that the SHFE nickel futures position transfer system will effectively strengthen cross-border price linkages and help refine the global nickel pricing framework. A representative from Huayou Cobalt's wholly-owned subsidiary, Huayou (Hong Kong), stated that the company is actively participating in SHFE nickel futures international trading and will steadily engage in nickel delivery month position transfers in line with its spot business pace. Overseas intermediaries such as COFCO Futures (International) have reported that the Shanghai nickel market offers ample liquidity, reasonable transaction costs, and a clear risk control framework. Overseas large-scale trading firms participating in Shanghai nickel trading indicated that the internationalized nickel futures business facilitates cross-market arbitrage, profit locking, and effective hedging against exchange rate fluctuations, thereby enhancing capital efficiency. China is the world's largest nickel consumer and importer, with a high external dependence on nickel resources. The substantial import-export trade volume, combined with international market price volatility, creates strong risk management needs across the industry chain for enterprises at all stages—from procurement and inventory management to sales—on both upstream and downstream sides. Currently, domestic refined nickel enterprises generally quote prices using the "Shanghai nickel price plus premium/discount" model. As the internationalization process advances, some enterprises have gradually adopted SHFE nickel futures prices as the benchmark for pricing imported nickel raw materials, believing that this price reflects domestic and Asia-Pacific supply-demand fundamentals and better aligns with the actual pricing needs of import businesses. Going forward, SHFE will continue to enrich its international product offerings, enhance market operational quality, and promote functional performance. Through measures including optimizing business rules, strengthening market cultivation, deepening two-way opening, reinforcing technical safeguards, and improving delivery service capabilities, SHFE aims to boost participation convenience for domestic and overseas entities and better serve the development of the real economy and national strategies.