There are two main types of gold trading in the gold market, namely spot trading and futures trading.
Spot gold mainly refers to gold nuggets (bricks), gold ingots, gold bars and gold coins. Most of the gold transactions newly mined by private or gold mining enterprises are physical transactions. The gold purchased by customers can be stored and transferred by themselves, or entrusted to a gold merchant for safekeeping.
Gold type:
1. The main forms of physical gold in the gold spot market are gold bars and ingots, as well as gold coins, gold medals and jewelry. Gold bars include low-purity placer gold and high-purity strip gold, and generally weigh 400 ounces. Market participants mainly include gold producers, refiners, central banks, investors and other demanders. Among them, gold traders buy and sell in the market, brokers earn commissions and spreads from them, and banks finance them.
2. Paper gold refers to the paper trading of gold, and the trading records of investors are only reflected in the "gold passbook account" opened by individuals in advance, and do not involve the withdrawal of physical gold. The profit model is to buy low and sell high, so as to obtain the difference profit. Compared with physical gold, its transaction is more convenient and faster, and the transaction cost is relatively low, which is suitable for short-term operation of professional investors. At present, four large state-owned banks in China have started paper gold business, namely Huang Jinbao of China Bank, gold experts of China Industrial and Commercial Bank, account fund of China Agricultural Bank and account fund of China Construction Bank.
3. Physical gold transactions include transactions such as gold bars, gold coins and gold ornaments, with holding gold as an investment. It is certain that the investment is high, and the actual rate of return is the same as other methods, but the amount involved will be low (because the invested funds will not play a leverage effect), and it can only be profitable when the gold price rises. Generally, the buying and selling prices of decorative gold are quite different, so it should not be regarded as investment. Gold bars and coins are the best choice for real gold investment because they do not involve other costs. However, it should be noted that holding gold does not generate interest income.
Gold jewelry can be divided into three grades in value, namely, high-grade, middle-grade and low-grade. High-grade jewelry is made of K platinum, high K gold and pure gold. In addition to pure gold jewelry, it is also inlaid with opals, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amber stones, pearls and diamonds of good quality. High-grade gold jewelry is an eternal treasure that does not corrode and rust, and has certain collection value. Mid-range and mid-range jewelry is made of K gold, with ordinary and semi-precious stones, such as jadeite, ruby, sapphire, malachite, turquoise and pearls. This is a popular gold jewelry.
Generally speaking, the buyers and sellers of gold futures sell and buy back contracts with the same number as the previous contracts before the contract expiration date, that is, close positions, without actually delivering real money and silver. The difference between the profit or loss of each transaction and the contract sales. This way of buying and selling is what people usually call "speculating in gold". Gold futures contract trading only needs a margin of about 10% of the transaction amount as the investment cost, with high leverage and a small amount of funds to promote large transactions. Therefore, gold futures trading is also called "margin trading".
6. Option is the price agreed by the buyer and the seller in the future, and it has the right but no obligation to buy a certain number of targets. If the price trend is favorable to both buyers and sellers of options, they will exercise their rights and make profits. If the price trend is unfavorable to it, it will give up the right to buy, and only the cost of purchasing options at that time will be lost. There are not many gold options markets in the world, because the investment tactics of buying and selling gold options are numerous and complicated, which is difficult to master.
7. Platinum is one of the rarest jewelry metals in the world. Only a few places in the world, such as South Africa and Russia, produce platinum, with an annual output of only 5% of gold. So rare, it is no wonder that owning platinum feels precious, and it is no wonder that the famous designer Louis Cartier called platinum "the king of precious metals".
8. Precious metal coins mainly refer to gold and silver coins (there are platinum and palladium coins in the former Soviet Union, but the quantity is very small). There are four kinds of gold and silver coins: gold and silver circulating coins, gold and silver commemorative coins, gold and silver trading coins and pure gold and silver coins (or gold and silver ingots). Most of the earliest coins were precious metal coins. Because gold and silver are uniform in texture and easy to combine and separate, it is convenient to realize the value scale; Small size, great value, easy to carry, easy to implement circulation and payment means; Hard and durable, not easy to wear, lovely color, suitable for preservation, easy to implement storage methods, so "gold and silver are naturally not money, money is naturally gold and silver."