GFEX Slams the Brakes: Daily Platinum & Palladium Openings Capped at 300 Lots for Non-Firms Starting Dec 29

GFEX just threw a new rulebook at the metals market. Starting December 29, the exchange is clamping down hard, limiting daily new positions in platinum and palladium for a specific group of traders.

The New Playing Field

The cap is set at 300 lots per day. This restriction applies exclusively to clients who aren't registered futures firms—think individual investors and general trading entities. It's a direct move to curb speculative froth and manage systemic exposure from the non-professional crowd.

Why This Move Matters

Exchanges don't impose limits for fun. This is a classic risk-control lever, pulled to prevent any single direction from getting too crowded too fast. It forces a cooler, more measured pace of trading. For the big institutional players? Business as usual—another reminder of the two-tiered market that always exists in finance, where the house and its VIPs play by a different set of rules.

The bottom line: GFEX is proactively fencing off the field. It’s a constraint designed to ensure stability, even if it means clipping the wings of the smaller players first. One cynic's prudent safeguard is another's barrier to entry—welcome to modern market structure.

Silver surge and fund losses are the basis of China’s current market stress

The GFEX decision landed as silver trading in China turned chaotic. Shanghai silver prices hit a record $80 per ounce, pushing year-to-date gains above 150%. Traders have pointed to a shortage of physical silver inside China. Globally, spot silver hovered NEAR $72 per ounce, extending a rally that has lifted prices more than 120% in 2025. On Wednesday, spot silver reached $72.70, putting it on track for its best annual performance since 1979.

Gold has surged by 60% year-to-date.

China’s only pure-play silver fund, the UBS SDIC Silver Futures Fund LOF, dropped by its maximum daily limit of 10% on Thursday. The fall ended a rapid rally that had triggered repeated warnings from the fund manager.

The fund had risen nearly 220% this year, far outpacing the roughly 128% gain in Shanghai silver futures. By Wednesday, the premium over the fund’s underlying silver contracts stood at nearly 62%, up from 7% at the start of the month.

After three straight days of hitting its 10% daily upside limit, the firm cut Class C subscription limits to 100 yuan from 500 yuan, effective December 26.

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