By Friday afternoons, the atmosphere on commodity trading desks undergoes a significant shift. For the first four days of the week, traders focus on making profitable trades. However, by Friday lunchtime, their attention turns to managing risk until the markets reopen on Sunday evening. The 48-hour period can be particularly challenging when traders hold positions tied to highly active markets, and they are unable to make adjustments until trading resumes.
According to Mustafa Al Niama, former head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, 'From about lunchtime, the desk essentially stops focusing on generating profits and starts thinking about what they can tolerate for roughly 48 hours until the Sunday evening reopen.' This ritual is familiar to every commodities options trader, who must assess whether they are comfortable holding their position over the weekend, given the inability to adjust or rebalance their bets during this time.