Access the most well-known precious metals, including gold, silver and copper
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Futures CFDs derive pricing from underlying futures contracts, while bullion CFDs derive their pricing from the underlying spot market. For a complete overview of all the precious metals available to trade and what time zone they are active in.
Trading metals online, the practice by which traders buy and sell in the metals market, is typically facilitated through online trading platforms such as MetaTrader 4. This is simply the software traders use to speculate and invest in the price movement of metals.
The majority of metal trading online involves precious metals, with gold, silver, copper, platinum and palladium often used by investors to help diversify and build a balanced portfolio. Find out more about how the commodity market works and all the commodities available to trade.
Precious metals trading, particularly in the retail trading domain, focuses on ‘Contracts for Difference’, commonly referred to as ‘CFDs’. CFDs allow traders to speculate on the price movement of metals, without taking direct ownership of the underlying asset. CFDs allow you to speculate on both rising and falling prices, meaning you can trade in a bull or bear market.
An example of a precious metals trade
Trader A determines that the price of gold is likely to increase against the US dollar, so the trader enters a long (buy) position. Trader A opens their CFD trade when the gold price is at $1,300 an ounce and the XAU/USD CFD contract subsequently rallies (increases) to $1,320 an ounce. Since the price has gone up, Trader A decides to close their position and banks a profit –(calculated from the difference between entry and exit levels).
In a world largely governed by technology, metals serve as an important physical cog in the global economy; the likes of gold, silver, copper, palladium and other metals are used as raw materials in many essential consumer products.
The price of gold – a traditional form of currency and one of the most heavily traded precious metals – clocked all-time highs at $2,075 an ounce (ticker: XAU/USD) in August 2020. To this day, the precious metal remains sought after. Not only does gold represent a store of value, but it also serves as a symbolic value (think wedding rings and Olympic medals) and is found in the manufacture of electrical components.
Precious metals undergo fluctuations in supply & demand with their intrinsic value never diminishing.
Ability to go long or short on precious metals with no restrictions.
Metals often offer greater flexibility and more liquidity.
In times of market turmoil or disruption, precious metals can serve as safe-haven markets.
Precious metals can give traders much-needed diversification to their portfolio.
Trade larger position values while only depositing a small percentage of the notional value.
Supply and demand
Inflation
Monetary policy
US dollar
Global macroeconomic trends
Utilise our world-class trading platforms and powerful tools to enhance your trading experience. With an Universal Markets Trades account, traders of all levels have access to top resources to help further improve their skills.
MetaTrader 4 is the smart choice for online traders everywhere who are looking for a trading edge. Simple for beginners and full of advanced functions for professionals, the MT4 platform helps you unlock unlimited trading possibilities.
Built to utilise Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, PsyQuation is a highly advanced trading analytics platform designed to reduce your trading mistakes and provide powerful performance analytics.
Autochartist continuously scans the market for customised trade opportunities, based on realtime pricing and your specific trade setups, then alerts you to potential trades.
Through CFD trading, Universal Markets Trades provides clients with a range of precious metals to trade and invest in. The most popular precious metals are our Bullion Spot CFDs: gold, silver, and platinum, against the US dollar (Symbols XAU/USD – XAG/USD – XPT/USD).
Bullion Spot CFDs are also accessible against other quote currencies, such as the Australian dollar, Swiss franc, Euro and British pound.
Precious metals are also available in the form of commodity futures CFDs. With these instruments, traders and investors can access gold and silver futures CFDs, as well as Copper.
Risk is inherent in all investments, but, as you would expect, some investment methods exhibit less risk than others. Common risks associated with trading precious metals, and other financial markets, are market risk, investment risk and trading risk.
The risk of trading precious metals, in terms of trading risk, is largely concentrated on execution risk, gap risk and slippage risk (the expected price of a trade and the price at which the trade is executed).
Trading hours for Universal Markets Trades clients in the precious metals market kick off at 01:00 Monday (server time) and close at midnight Friday (24:00—server time). This includes gold, silver and platinum products. There is a market break that occurs between 24:00 and 01:00 (server time) each morning.
Precious metals market hours for gold and silver commodity futures CFDs open at 18:01 Sunday and close at 16:59 Friday – a trading break occurs between 16:59 and 18:01 (New York).
Due to their perceived reliability, precious metals are often viewed as an effective way to balance or diversify an investment portfolio against risk or volatility, or to hedge against inflation and act as a safe haven.
To trade precious metals online with Universal Markets Trades, as well as the base metal copper, the minimum trade size is 0.01 of a standard lot.
