Gold is a liquid asset, ranking at levels comparable to many global stock markets as well as currency spreads. Its liquidity is often sourced during periods of stress in the markets, one of its appealing qualities. We examine liquidity across the global OTC, futures, and ETF markets. We then provide an overview/ aggregation of gold trading volumes across trading venues in US$ billions.
Trading Volumes
Data as of
Sources: Bloomberg, COMEX, Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange, ICE Benchmark Administration, London Metal Exchange, Multi Commodity Exchange of India, Nasdaq, Shanghai Gold Exchange, Shanghai Futures Exchange, Tokyo Commodities Exchange, World Gold Council; Disclaimer
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Data Series Description
Volumes represent daily averages in US$ billion over each corresponding period. Data for physical gold contracts on the Shanghai Gold Exchange are reported with a lag.
* Indicates non-available current data. Last available figures are used instead for reference only.
† LBMA Trade Data volumes based on the weekly report by the LBMA https://www.lbma.org.uk/prices-and-data/lbma-trade-data
†† "Non-LBMA Trade Data is “OTC estimates representing trading volumes not captured by the LBMA Trade Data data set. This figure is intended to account for trading by non-LBMA members or by the platforms not included in the report. Based on anecdotal evidence, we estimate that non-LBMA trading may contribute with an additional 0.1x to 0.3x times the volume reported by LBMA, with a mid-value of 0.2x which is applied to the Non-LBMA trade data calculation in the table. Note that these estimates are subject to periodical historical revisions as more data becomes available. For more information, see: Market Update: increased transparency on gold trading
‡ Shanghai Gold Exchange OTC trade data includes trading volumes of all gold spot contracts, forwards, swaps, leasing contracts and gold options traded on the exchange’s OTC market. They include PAu9999, PAu9995, iPAu9999, iPAu995, OAu9999, LAu9995 and LAu9999. Note that only contracts with active trading volumes in 2021 are included and we divide all SGE contracts’ volumes by 2 as the report double-side-counted data. For more information, see: trading_OTCMarket (sge.com.cn)
∂ Shanghai Futures Exchange started to report one-side-counted trading volumes from 1 January 2020. For data prior to this date, we apply a 0.5 multiplier to the exchange’s trading volumes, for data after this date, we apply no multipliers.
§ Shanghai Gold Exchange physical exchange-traded gold contracts include Au9999, Au9995, Au995, Au100g, iAu9999 and iAu100g, deferred exchange-traded gold contracts include Au(T+D), mAu(T+D), Au(T+N1), Au(T+N2), NYAuTN06 and NYAuTN12. Note that only contracts with active trading volumes in 2021 are included and we divide all SGE contracts’ volumes by 2 as the report double-side-counted data. For more information, see data_MonthlyReport (sge.com.cn)
^ All other exchanges includes gold contracts traded on: London Metal Exchange, Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange, ICE Futures, US Metals, Borsa Istanbul, Bursa Malaysia, Moscow Exchange - RTSX, Tokyo Commodity Exchange.
A list of all physical gold-backed ETFs (and similar products) included in this calculation is available on: https://www.gold.org/goldhub/data/global-gold-backed-etf-holdings-and-flows
Length and frequency
Data goes back to the beginning of the previous year
Update Schedule
All data is updated daily based on end of day files
Units
Units are based on US$bn
