Bian Ximing's Billion-Dollar Copper Bet Reshapes China's Commodity Strategy
After a $1.5B gold windfall, Bian Ximing sets his sights on copper—placing a billion-dollar bet on China's tech future and a reshaped global supply chain.
Editorial Team (ET)May 27, 2025
Bian Ximing isn’t your typical Chinese billionaire. Reclusive, calculated, and remarkably successful, he made his first billion not in real estate or tech, but by betting on gold at exactly the right moment. And now, he's shifting his sights to copper — and the world is paying attention.
Bian, now 61, rose from modest beginnings in Zhuji, Zhejiang province. He grew up in the shadows of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, but by 1995, as China’s economy began its massive rise, Bian was building a factory for high-end plastic tubes. He soon expanded into finance, property, and even media, acquiring futures broker Zhongcai in 2003 and planting the seeds for what would become a sprawling, multi-sector empire. His ability to anticipate macroeconomic shifts has earned him comparisons to Western hedge fund titans. But unlike his flashy peers, Bian operates from the shadows — literally. He runs his Shanghai-based brokerage from Gibraltar, rarely returning to China, orchestrating market moves via video calls.
His latest gamble is nothing short of audacious. After pocketing a staggering $1.5 billion in profit on Chinese gold futures — a play driven by his belief that the global system was decoupling from the dollar — Bian has become China’s biggest copper bull. Through Zhongcai Futures Co., he now holds the largest net long position in copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. At last count, that position included nearly 90,000 tons of copper futures, a move that reflects both an unshakable belief in copper’s long-term fundamentals and in China’s economic resilience, even as geopolitical tensions with the U.S. escalate.
