According to CoinMeta, Trafigura Group made large purchases of aluminum at the London Metal Exchange (LME), becoming an important participant in this historic short squeeze. As aluminum inventories plummeted, Trafigura Group has now established a considerable long position in the aluminum market. LME data shows that before the expiration of the main contract in November next Wednesday, several institutions already held large long positions in short-term aluminum contracts. Although the absolute size of these positions is not considered large by historical standards, when measured as a proportion of the LME available inventory, they are quite substantial. LME data indicates that the total long positions in the November contracts have exceeded the exchange's current inventory of 226,350 tons, which has dropped to its lowest level since 1990.