Background: Russia is the world's third-largest producer of nickel, exporting around 17% of the world's supply. So, with everyone turning their backs on Russia... investors are worried about a major drop in nickel supply.

What happened: Nickel also happens to be in pretty much constant demand (think: stainless steel and lithium-ion batteries). So with supply going ⬇️ and demand going ⬆️, nickel prices are soaring. 

What else: Some investors have been building short positions in nickel, waiting for the price to drop. But because the price is rising, short-sellers have been forced to close their positions (aka re-buy nickel to cut their losses from becoming greater). This has forced prices even higher in what's called a short squeeze, which forced the London Metal Exchange had to halt trading.

🔔 What's the key learning?

💡'Shorting' a stock is when an investor borrows stock from a broker, sells that stock to someone else and then buys it back later. The hope is that they sell high, buy back low, and keep the difference.

💡A short squeeze is when this all goes pear-shaped. Rather than the stock's price dropping, it actually climbs even higher due to some event. To pay brokers back on time, investors with short positions are forced to buy the stock back at the high price.

💡Not only have they lost money on the trade, but they've also inflated the price of the stock even more (ahem Gamestonk).

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