Price & Market

The ask price is the price at which a dealer or market maker sells a precious metal — that is, the lowest price at which buyers can immediately purchase in the market.

Backwardation describes a market situation in which the spot price of a commodity is above the futures price — a signal of acute physical scarcity.

The bid price is the price a dealer or market maker is willing to pay for a precious metal — that is, the buying price from the seller's point of view.

The buying price is what a dealer or refinery hands over when it buys metal from a private seller — and it always sits under the prevailing spot price.

COMEX (Commodity Exchange) is the world's most significant futures exchange for gold and silver futures and the decisive price-reference market for physical precious metals.

Contango describes a market situation in which the futures price of a commodity is above the current spot price.

Euwax Gold II is a physically backed gold ETC of the Stuttgart Stock Exchange that securitises a direct claim to delivery of genuine gold and, after a holding period of one year, can be sold tax-free in Germany.

The Fear and Greed Index is a composite sentiment indicator that measures, on a scale from 0 (extreme fear) to 100 (extreme greed), how strongly fear or buying euphoria is driving current market behaviour.

The spot price is the continuously traded market price for immediate delivery, while the fixing is a reference price determined only once per day.

A future is a standardised forward contract that obliges buyer and seller to deliver or take delivery of a set quantity of a precious metal at a price agreed today on a future date.

A gold ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is an exchange-traded fund that tracks the gold price and allows investors to participate in its performance without physically owning gold.

The gold-silver ratio indicates how many ounces of silver are needed for one ounce of gold — a popular indicator for the relative valuation of the two metals.

A trading strategy in which investors swap gold for silver (or vice versa) when the price ratio of the two metals reaches historically extreme values.

The LBMA Fixing is a reference price for gold and silver determined twice daily in London and used worldwide as a binding benchmark for trading transactions, mining contracts and financial products.

The London Fix is a reference price set twice daily for gold, silver, platinum and palladium, coordinated by the LBMA and used worldwide as a settlement basis for physical precious metal transactions.

Paper gold refers to gold financial products such as ETFs, ETCs, futures or certificates that track a gold price without the holder acquiring direct ownership of the physical metal – even though some products (e.g. Xetra-Gold) securitise a delivery claim.

The premium is the mark-up over the spot price that buyers pay when acquiring physical precious-metal products such as coins or bars, on top of the pure metal value.

The premium (agio) is how much the sale price of a precious-metal coin or bar sits above its current metal value (spot price).

Seasonality in the gold market refers to recurring, calendar-driven patterns in the course of the gold price that arise from cyclical demand fluctuations in key regions.

The dealer price is the price at which a precious metals dealer sells a product to the buyer - it is always above the spot price and includes minting or refining costs, the dealer margin and, where applicable, VAT.

A silver ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is an exchange-traded fund that tracks the price development of silver without investors having to buy or store physical metal themselves.

The tax-related surcharge on silver purchases refers to the portion of the price that buyers pay over and above the pure metal value because VAT is levied on investment silver – unlike on investment gold.

The spot market is the market for the immediate delivery of precious metals at the currently prevailing spot rate.

The spot price is the current market price for the immediate delivery of one troy ounce of precious metal – the basis of almost all buying and selling prices.

The spot rate is the currently valid market price of a precious metal for immediate delivery and payment, also known as the spot price.

The spread is the difference between the buying price (bid) and the selling price (ask) of a precious metal and represents the dealer's implicit trading margin.

The strike price is the standardised reference price of a precious metal on which premiums, dealer margins and option contracts are built.

The interplay of supply (mine production, recycling, central bank sales) and demand (jewellery, industry, investment) is a decisive factor in the price of precious metals.

Volatility measures the intensity of price fluctuations over a defined period and is regarded as a central gauge of the market risk of an asset.

Xetra-Gold is an exchange-traded debt security (ETC) issued by Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH, physically backed by gold and granting investors a securitised claim to delivery of real gold.