Nickel Price History
As of November 13, 2026, the nickel price is $15,907.66 per metric ton, down 1.65% over the past 24 hours. The price is quoted in US dollars per metric ton and updates continuously as London Metal Exchange futures and over-the-counter markets trade.
Nickel's record is contested: a clean 2007 high near $54,200 per tonne, and a 2022 short squeeze above $100,000 that the LME cancelled. Since then, Indonesian oversupply has driven prices to multi-year lows.
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Price Chart
Embed24h Change
24h Range
$15,885.92 to $16,266.69Est. dealer bid/ask
$15,891.75 / $15,923.56All-Time High
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Nickel Price Records
Nickel has two competing records: the clean 2007 high, and the voided 2022 squeeze print. Prices are LME, USD per tonne.
All-Time High
~$54,200
May 2007 (the official record; a March 2022 squeeze spiked to ~$101,365 intraday before the LME cancelled the trades)
| Date | High (USD/tonne) | What Drove It |
|---|---|---|
| May 2007Record | ~$54,200 | A China-led stainless-steel boom and an acute refined-metal shortage drove nickel up more than 400%. This clean record stood for 15 years and is still cited as the official all-time high by most data providers. |
| Feb 2011 | ~$29,000 | A post-financial-crisis rebound on Chinese stimulus and synchronized commodity reflation lifted nickel to a multi-year high. |
| May 2014 | ~$21,000 | Indonesia's first ban on unprocessed nickel-ore exports sparked a supply-shortage rally. |
| Mar 8, 2022 | ~$101,365 | The Tsingshan short squeeze sent nickel above $100,000 intraday, the highest price ever printed, but the LME halted trading and cancelled the day's roughly $4 billion of trades, so the spike is a contested, voided record rather than the official high. |
Because the LME nullified the March 8, 2022 trades, most providers treat the May 2007 high near $54,200 as the official record, while the ~$101,365 print stands as the highest level nickel ever traded. Both are shown above. Prices are nominal USD per tonne.
Data Methodology
Where does this price data come from?
How is the nickel price determined?
When is the nickel market open?
Nickel Price by Year (1970 to 2025)
LME annual average price per tonne in USD. Click any year for that year's full breakdown.
| Year | Avg Price (USD/tonne) | YoY Change | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s: Inflation Era & Commodity Booms | ||||
| 1970 Producer reference price: the LME nickel contract didn't launch until April 1979. | $2,846 | n/a | ||
| 1971 | $2,932 | +3.0% | ||
| 1972 | $3,080 | +5.0% | ||
| 1973 | $3,373 | +9.5% | ||
| 1974 | $3,825 | +13.4% | ||
| 1975 | $4,571 | +19.5% | ||
| 1976 | $4,973 | +8.8% | ||
| 1977 | $5,118 | +2.9% | ||
| 1978 Producer price from the last full year before the LME nickel contract launched in April 1979. | $4,609 | -9.9% | ||
| 1979 LME launches its nickel contract in April | $5,986 | +29.9% | ||
| 1980s: Recession & Disinflation | ||||
| 1980 | $6,519 | +8.9% | ||
| 1981 | $5,953 | -8.7% | ||
| 1982 | $4,837 | -18.7% | ||
| 1983 | $4,673 | -3.4% | ||
| 1984 | $4,752 | +1.7% | ||
| 1985 | $4,899 | +3.1% | ||
| 1986 Cyclical low in mid-1980s. | $3,881 | -20.8% | ||
| 1987 | $4,872 | +25.5% | ||
| 1988 Sharp spike to about $6.25/lb on a stainless-steel demand surge | $13,778 | +182.8% | ||
| 1989 | $13,308 | -3.4% | ||
| 1990s: Oversupply & the Asian Crisis | ||||
| 1990 | $8,864 | -33.4% | ||
| 1991 | $8,156 | -8.0% | ||
| 1992 | $7,001 | -14.2% | ||
| 1993 | $5,293 | -24.4% | ||
| 1994 | $6,340 | +19.8% | ||
| 1995 | $8,228 | +29.8% | ||
| 1996 | $7,501 | -8.8% | ||
| 1997 | $6,927 | -7.7% | ||
| 1998 Asian financial crisis low. | $4,630 | -33.2% | ||
| 1999 | $6,011 | +29.8% | ||
| 2000s: China Supercycle & the 2008 Crash | ||||
| 2000 | $8,638 | +43.7% | ||
| 2001 | $5,945 | -31.2% | ||
| 2002 | $6,772 | +13.9% | ||
| 2003 | $9,629 | +42.2% | ||
| 2004 | $13,823 | +43.6% | ||
| 2005 From 2005 the World Bank and USGS series use the LME settlement price. | $14,744 | +6.7% | ||
| 2006 | $24,254 | +64.5% | ||
| 2007 Record annual average; intraday spike to ~$54,200 in May 2007. | $37,230 | +53.5% | ||
| 2008 Global financial crisis; sharp decline from 2007 peak. | $21,111 | -43.3% | ||
| 2009 Post-crisis low. | $14,655 | -30.6% | ||
| 2010s: Post-Crisis Range & China Slowdown | ||||
| 2010 | $21,809 | +48.8% | ||
| 2011 | $22,910 | +5.0% | ||
| 2012 | $17,548 | -23.4% | ||
| 2013 | $15,032 | -14.3% | ||
| 2014 | $16,893 | +12.4% | ||
| 2015 | $11,863 | -29.8% | ||
| 2016 Multi-year low amid oversupply. | $9,595 | -19.1% | ||
| 2017 | $10,410 | +8.5% | ||
| 2018 | $13,114 | +26.0% | ||
| 2019 | $13,914 | +6.1% | ||
| 2020s: COVID, Energy Crisis & Supply Shocks | ||||
| 2020 USGS puts the LME cash average at $13,772. | $13,787 | -0.9% | ||
| 2021 USGS puts the LME cash average at $18,476. | $18,465 | +33.9% | ||
| 2022 LME short squeeze in March sends nickel above $100,000 intraday, and the LME halts trading and cancels trades USGS puts the full-year LME cash average at $25,815. | $25,834 | +39.9% | ||
| 2023 USGS puts the LME cash average at $21,495. | $21,521 | -16.7% | ||
| 2024 Indonesian oversupply pressures prices World Bank final figure; the USGS preliminary estimate was $17,000. | $16,814 | -21.9% | ||
| 2025 Full-year figure from the World Bank's January 2026 update, subject to revision. | $15,162 | -9.8% | ||
Nickel Price Through the Decades
Nickel, traded on the London Metal Exchange in US dollars per tonne, spent the 1990s and early 2000s mostly between about $4,000 and $10,000. A Chinese-led stainless-steel super-cycle and a refined-metal shortage then drove a surge of more than 400% from late 2005, peaking near $54,200 per tonne in May 2007, the clean all-time record that most data providers still cite. The 2008 global financial crisis reversed that violently, with nickel collapsing roughly 89% to about $8,810 by October 2008.
Prices recovered to around $29,000 in early 2011 on Chinese stimulus, but the rest of the 2010s was dominated by oversupply, punctuated by Indonesia-driven supply-fear spikes (around $21,000 in 2014 when Jakarta first banned unprocessed ore exports, and around $18,000 in 2019 when it brought the ban forward). The metal's reputation as a future battery metal for electric vehicles built a speculative bid into the early 2020s.
The defining modern episode came in March 2022. Russia's invasion of Ukraine plus Tsingshan Holding's massive short position triggered a squeeze that pushed nickel above $100,000 per tonne intraday, peaking around $101,365 on March 8. The LME suspended trading for about a week and cancelled that day's roughly $4 billion of trades, a hugely controversial intervention that means the six-figure print is disputed and not recognized by most as the official high. Since 2023, an Indonesian supply flood, financed by Chinese capital and now about 60% of world output, has collided with weaker-than-hoped battery demand, pushing the market into deep surplus and dragging prices to roughly four-year lows. See the live chart above for the current price.
Data provided by MetalCharts, a free precious metals tracking platform offering real-time prices, interactive charts, historical data, and portfolio tools for gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and copper. Prices sourced from major global exchanges including COMEX, LBMA, and LME, updated continuously during market hours.
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