Make Kitco Your Homepage
News Bites

CME To Launch Gold/Silver Ratio, and Spread Contracts Next Month

(Kitco News) - Unprecedented investor demand for gold has driven ratios and spreads in the precious metals market to multi-year highs and the CME Group is hoping to capitalize on this new interest with three new futures product.

Wednesday evening the futures exchanged announced that, pending regulatory approval, it will launch gold/silver ratio future contracts, gold/platinum spread futures and platinum/palladium spread futures. It is expected that these three new contracts will start trading Oct. 24.

"The introduction of these ratio and spread futures contracts respond directly to customer demand for new tools to more effectively manage the price relationships of our precious metals futures contracts, which are often used to manage portfolio risk," said Miguel Vias, CME Group Head of Precious Metals. "These three new futures contracts will eliminate a great deal of complexity involved in price ratio and spread trading of precious metals and provide a broader subset of market participants the tools to offset macroeconomic risk."

The CME said that the gold/silver ratio futures will be 500 index points and reference the rate between Comex gold and silver future prices for each day. The gold/platinum futures will trade in 100 troy ounces and reference the price difference between gold and NYMEX plantium future prices. The platinum/palladium will also trade in 100 troy ounces and reference the price difference between platinum and NYMEX palladium future prices for that day.

According to Kitco.com, the gold/silver ratio was last at 70. While the ratio is down about 13 points from its recent highs it is still holding at its highest level in more than 5 years. Analysts have been bullish on silver because of the ratio has spent most of the year trading well above historical averages, which is around 50.

 

By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com

 

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
kitco news