China's Shanghai, Dalian and Zhenzhou futures markets all announced new trading rules on 8 November, increasing costs for speculators. After dropping sharply, steel and coke futures were already increasing again by the end of the day, however, Kallanish notes.

The exchanges were acting as fear mounted that speculators were pushing up commodity prices and causing a bubble to form. A similar bubble was burst in April, starting a six-week decline which saw spot rebar prices lose around $150/tonne.

On Tuesday, however, commodity prices saw a mixed reaction to the news. The main coking coal contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) dropped CNY 41/t ($6.05/t) to CNY 1474.5/t, and thermal coal prices also dropped sharply. Coke and steel futures managed to recover after an initial collapse, however. January rebar actually closed up CNY 37/t at CNY 2,836/t, although this was a long way down from the CNY 2,933/t where it started the day.

On 8 November the Shanghai Futures Exchange doubled the commission for closing positions opened the same day for January rebar to 0.002% of the transaction amount, effective 9 November. The fee for longer term positions remains the same.

The DCE increased minimum trading margin for coking coal and coke from 9% to 11% effective after settlement on 8 November. The contracts will be allowed to move 9% from the previous settlement price each day, compared to 7% previously. Starting on 9 November, commission on same-day closure of a position remains the same at 0.072%, but for longer-term positions the commission is doubled to 0.012%.

Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange will charge a flat CNY 30 per contract from night trading on 8 November. From night trading on 11 November, any investor trading over 8,000 contracts in a day will have to pay an additional CNY 30/contract if more than 2,000 of the positions were opened on the same day.

The amendment also applies to some other commodities like glass plate, methanol and crude rubber.