Experts believe that this move may test the water for individuals to participate in the gold extension (T+D) business.
Individual investors can freely buy and sell physical gold on the Shanghai Gold Exchange from now on.
Yesterday, the Shanghai Gold Exchange issued the Notice on Individual Customers Trading Au99.95 Gold Varieties, and decided to open Au99.95 physical gold varieties trading to individual customers from now on. Commercial banks that have started the personal gold agency business of the exchange can decide the time to open the Au99.95 transaction for individual customers.
According to industry insiders, there have been many disputes about whether individual customers can participate in various businesses of the Gold Exchange recently. The release of personal restrictions on physical gold in Au99.95 by the Exchange this time may be a transitional behavior, and it is not excluded that it is for individual customers to participate in the Au(T+D) extension of gold in the future.
The exchange also stated in the notice that the trading unit of Au99.95 is 1kg/ lot, and the delivery standard is standard gold ingots with a purity of over 99.95% and a standard weight of 3 kg, and the delivery quantity must be 3 kg and its integral multiple. The physical gold purchased by individual customers through the exchange and deposited in the vault designated by the exchange is temporarily exempt from the storage fee, and the purchased physical gold can be sold during the trading hours. Once the physical gold is extracted, it cannot be put into storage for trading again.
It is reported that there are currently 8 gold varieties in Shanghai Gold Exchange, including spot gold and gold delayed Au(T+D), 1 platinum and 2 silver varieties. Au99.95 physical gold variety, commonly known as "No.2 Gold", is the main physical gold variety of the Gold Exchange, which is conducted in the form of full transaction. From June+10/October in 5438, the transaction volume of this variety was11616793600 yuan.
Wang, chief analyst of Gaosaier, said that before Au99.95, physical gold was only for legal persons, and both delivery and delivery parties must have legal person qualifications, and individuals could not directly participate. This is the first time that the Gold Exchange has allowed individual investors to set foot in physical gold, which is a breakthrough. Previously, individual customers could buy gold bars in commercial banks, but they could only buy and not sell them.
Wang believes that whether individuals can participate in gold spot and gold (T+D) business has always been a pressing issue in the industry. The gold exchange's release of Au99.95 physical gold may be a way to throw stones at the future. At present, the gold (T+D) business with margin trading is mainly delivered by No.2 gold, but T+D is more investment and speculative, which is quite popular among individual investors. It remains to be seen whether it will be directly open to individual customers in the future.