Gold trading volumes continue to rise

Liquidity:

• Trading volumes continued to increase to begin September, 108% above the 2018 average, driven by COMEX and Shanghai Futures Exchange volumes.
• COMEX net longs inched up to all-time highs for a second week in a row (long 1,134 tonnes). 
• Futures open interest continues to move higher at $119bn, driven mostly by COMEX, and is 60% above the 2018 average.

COMEX Net Longs

Source: CFTC, Bloomberg

Gold-backed ETF flows:

• $946mn worth of inflows last week across all regions, primarily in North America and China.
• Year-to-date flows surpassed $15bn or 11% holdings’ growth.
• See our August ETF report we released last Thursday.

Price Behavior:

• Realized volatility spiked last week and 30-day vol is at 17, averaging over a 1% move over the past 30-days, nearly the highest in the past year.
• Gold fell back to the Fibonacci level of $1,520 which could act as support as the price consolidates