A Glittering Future For Gold?
The price of gold climbed to $1000 an ounce in February 2009, but suffered five days of consecutive losses towards the end of the month. So has gold lost its Midas touch, or does it have a glittering future?
As a hard asset that cannot become worthless, investors tend to see gold as a 'safe haven' in turbulent markets. However, as market optimism increases, investors are often drawn back to stocks and bonds by the lure of dividends and interest.
The strength of gold, therefore, is often seen as a negative indicator of economic health. The current volatility in gold trading suggests that there is little consensus regarding the future of the market, which raises the question: are stocks as good as gold?
Whatever the future for the yellow metal, CFD traders are well placed to take advantage of potentially volatile markets in the coming months.
Take a position with IG Markets
Whatever your view, our Spot and Forward contracts let you go long or short on the price of Gold, Silver and other precious metals.
Spot Gold is traded in US dollar contracts with minimum deal sizes equivalent to $10 per point for a mini contract and $100 per point for a standard contract. Spot Silver's minimum deal sizes are equivalent to $5 per point for a mini and $50 per point for a standard.
You can also gain exposure to the Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium via a CFD on one of our Exchange Traded Funds – ask our dealers for more information.
To find out more about our Metals Contracts, with an example of a Spot Gold trade, plus all contract details, visit our Metals pages.
Updated: 03/03/09
The above comments do not constitute investment advice and IG Markets accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.