Gold spot margin trading is represented by the London spot market, and there is no fixed trading place. As the counterparties of global market participants, the five largest gold merchants in London (Luo, Jin Baoli, Wandaji, Wanjiada and Meisi Pacific), investors only need to pay a certain percentage of spot deposit when buying gold, and the rest is similar to bank loans, and they need to pay a certain percentage of interest on a daily basis. Interest can also be interpreted as the loss of opportunity cost of gold merchants.

Gold futures margin trading, represented by the New York Mercantile Exchange and NYSE, has a fixed trading place, and the trading target is not spot gold itself, but a standardized gold trading contract, which stipulates that both parties to the transaction will deliver gold in kind at an agreed price at a certain time in the future.