Comparison of paper gold trading products of three banks
Faced with the paper gold trading products that are constantly appearing in the market, how should investors choose? This article compares the "paper gold" products of three banks in detail, providing you with a reference when choosing products from four aspects: quotation basis, transaction spread, investment threshold and transaction convenience.
The "paper gold" business is not unfamiliar to investors in Shanghai. Since Bank of China took the lead in launching the book gold speculation business "Huanghuangbao", ICBC's gold expert "physical gold", "RMB account gold", "USD account gold" and China Construction Bank's "account gold" business have successively joined this market. “Paper gold” products with lower thresholds, more favorable transaction fees, and more transaction currencies are constantly emerging (ICBC’s “physical gold” business has the dual characteristics of book gold and physical gold, so it can also be regarded as a kind of “paper gold”). Gold" investment product).
However, in the face of more choices, investors have difficulties. Readers often call to inquire. There are so many book gold speculation products on the market now. How should investors choose? The "paper gold" products launched by various banks are all based on their own quotation standards. Are there any differences? Is there a difference in the way fees are collected?
To this end, the reporter conducted a detailed comparison of several different "paper gold" investment products, hoping to provide help to gold investors when choosing products.
Take a look at the quotation basis
As readers mentioned, the "paper gold" products provided by the three banks are based on different quotation standards.
Take the "Huanghuangbao" business of Bank of China, which was the first to launch the "paper gold" business, as an example. It is based on the quotation in the international market and is obtained by converting the real-time exchange rate into a RMB quotation. However, since the trading time of "Huanghuangbao" is 24-hour uninterrupted trading, the international market on which the quotation is based will be different in different time periods. For example, during the day trading period, the quotation comes from the gold trading market in Tokyo; during the evening period, the quotation comes from the gold trading time in London; and at night, it depends on the market quotation in New York. "For investors, if you want to know exactly the basis of our quotation, you can get further information from websites like Reuters." A staff member of the Gold Business Department of Shanghai Bank of China introduced.
The quotation system of ICBC's "Gold Expert" business varies depending on different gold investment products. Among them, the earliest "physical gold" business was linked to the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Therefore, there was no unified quotation standard. Instead, investors placed their own orders during the trading hours of the Gold Exchange and carried out the transactions according to the matching method. The buying and selling of gold is the same as the trading of stocks.
The quotation method for the "RMB Account Fund" business newly launched by ICBC is slightly more complicated. ICBC staff said that compared with the trading hours of "physical gold", the trading hours of "RMB account gold" are longer. From 8 a.m. on Monday to 4 a.m. on Saturday, investors can conduct transactions without interruption. "Therefore, the quotation method of our transaction quotations will be different." During the trading hours of the Financial Exchange, the quotation of "RMB Account Gold" is based on the real-time transaction quotation of AU99.99 provided by the Financial Exchange. In other time periods, the quotation for the "RMB Account Fund" business is determined by converting real-time international market quotations into RMB quotations. For international market quotations, investors can learn about them from the website.
The quotation for ICBC’s other “paper gold” product, the “USD Account Gold” business, is relatively simple. “Since the price is directly calculated in US dollars, we use the comprehensive international market quotation. The method is based on the real-time market conditions of different international markets in different time periods and is determined after exchange rate conversion.”
Since the current trading hours of CCB’s “Account Fund” business are determined to be 10:00-15 during the day. : 30, so in terms of quotation accuracy, CCB directly adopts a quotation method based on the real-time quotations of AU99.99 and AU99.95, the two main gold trading varieties of the Gold Exchange.
Second, look at the transaction spread
Some people may ask, "I have compared the real-time market prices, but why are they still different from the quotes provided by the bank?" The reason is The reason is that when banks make quotations, they usually include the spread of the transaction (that is, the handling fee charged by the bank). The buying price is based on the quoted price plus the spread, and the selling price is based on the quoted price. Accurately minus the spread.
After comparison, the reporter found that the transaction spreads charged by the three banks' different "paper gold" products are not exactly the same.
The unilateral transaction spread of Bank of China's "Huanghuangbao" business is 0.4 yuan/gram. For example, if the real-time price in the international market is converted into RMB 160/gram, then the real-time quotation of "Huanghuangbao" is the investor's buying price of 160.4 yuan/g and the selling price of 159.6 yuan/g.
However, as the transaction volume increases, this unilateral trading spread can be reduced. The current spread standard implemented by Bank of China is that the single investment amount is less than 1,000 grams, and the unilateral spread is 0.4 yuan/gram; 1,000 to 5,000 grams. The one-sided spread is 0.37 yuan/g; the investment amount of gold is 5,000~10,000 grams, and the one-sided spread is 0.34 yuan/g; if your one-time investment exceeds 10,000 grams, the one-sided spread is 0.31 yuan/g. This means that the larger the investment amount, the lower the transaction fee for investors and the greater the profit potential.
Among ICBC’s “Gold Expert” businesses, the one with the lowest handling fee is the “physical gold” business. Different from other products, the handling fee charged in the transaction of "physical gold" is determined based on the transaction price, which is 0.21% of the transaction amount. If calculated based on the transaction price of 160 yuan/gram, the handling fee charged by the bank is 0.336 yuan. ICBC's other two "paper gold" trading products, like the "Huanghuang Bao" business, use spreads to collect handling fees. Among them, the unilateral spread of "RMB Account Gold" is 0.4 yuan/gram, and "USD The one-sided spread of "Account Gold" is US$3/ounce.
Compared with the products of the other two major banks, CCB's "account gold" service fee is slightly higher. The current fee standard is a one-sided spread of 0.5 yuan/gram.
Third look at the transaction threshold
For investors, the transaction threshold is also a consideration when investing in gold. It is gratifying that the "paper gold" investment products currently on the market It is becoming more and more people-friendly, and the transaction threshold and the minimum requirements for a single transaction have been significantly lower than before. This means that even if you have a small amount of capital, you can still invest in the gold market and get a share of the pie.
Among the "paper gold" services provided by several banks, ICBC's "RMB Account Gold" and "USD Account Gold" have the lowest thresholds. Among them, the initial investment amount of "RMB Account Gold" is 10 grams, which means that investors only need about 1,600 yuan to start "rolling" gold, and then make additional investments in units of 1 gram; while "USD account gold" is measured in ounces, investors The initial investment amount is 0.1 ounce, which is about 60 US dollars, and the total RMB does not exceed 500 yuan. When you make additional investment, ICBC uses 0.01 ounce as the unit for cumulative investment.
The thresholds for Bank of China's "Huanghuangbao" business and CCB's "Account Gold" business are not high. These two banks stipulate that gold investment can be made as long as the single investment amount reaches 10 grams.
Of course, we should also mention by the way another product under ICBC's "Gold Expert" series - "Physical Gold". The initial investment amount is 1,000 grams, and the transaction process is based on "lots". One lot is equivalent to 100 grams of gold. This product has certain advantages in transaction rates, so it is especially favored by investors with large amounts of funds.
Four things to consider about transaction convenience
When choosing a suitable “paper gold” investment product, you cannot ignore the convenience of the product in the transaction process. We can consider convenience from many aspects such as transaction channels, transaction settings, etc.
Most of the "paper gold" businesses currently launched by the three banks only require you to hold an account with the bank and open a gold trading account at the bank to conduct transactions. Among them, if you hold a US dollar account with ICBC, you can skip the step of opening an account and just use the account to conduct transactions. However, investors need to be reminded that if you want to open ICBC's "physical gold" business, you need to open a gold trading account on the Gold Exchange at a specific outlet and pay an account opening fee of 60 yuan.
In terms of transaction channels and methods, Bank of China and ICBC adopt a multi-channel transaction method of branch transactions, telephone banking and online banking; while CCB’s “account gold” business is currently only available over the counter. Carry out trading operations.
It is worth mentioning that in order to facilitate investors’ trading operations, the trading interfaces of Bank of China and ICBC have “trading entrustment” settings. If investors have no time to take into account market conditions, they can make full use of the entrustment function. It can bring a lot of convenience to your "gold speculation". The main method of trading entrustment is to set the selling price or buying price in advance, or to set up a "two-way entrustment". The entrustment of Bank of China is valid before three o'clock in the morning every day (at this time, the bank will suspend transactions for a period of time for liquidation) ), ICBC’s transaction entrustment time is 120 consecutive hours after the entrustment.