ICE launches precious metals futures in London this week

Tue Oct 06 2026

Intercontinental Exchange started trading precious metals derivatives in London this week, introducing futures contracts in the world’s main physical bullion centre.

The new products cover gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures, all linked to the daily auction prices ICE runs in London. London handles over-the-counter physical gold transactions worth more than $190 billion daily and stores approximately $1.4 trillion in bullion reserves. The city’s price-setting systems are used in industry benchmarks and investment products around the world.

London has not sustained a successful gold futures market in recent years. The London Metal Exchange closed its gold futures contract in 2022 following five years of low trading volumes. An earlier effort, the London Gold Futures Market, ended in the mid-1980s. Trade tensions and economic sanctions have changed global precious metals markets. After trade actions in April 2025, dealers moved large amounts of gold to America as futures prices in New York rose above physical prices in London.

“Derivatives markets generally are there to support the physical market,” said Chris Rhodes, president of ICE Futures Europe.

“The physical market is in London. We believe that if you were to enable people to manage their risk in a different way . . . that could be an attractive prospect, particularly if it’s linked into the auction price.”

Central banks are reconsidering where they store gold. Last month, the Dutch central bank moved more than 78 tonnes of gold from New York to London, citing “increasing geopolitical unrest” and concerns about potential government action. Hong Kong and Singapore are expanding storage facilities, while France and India have moved gold back to their countries. Venezuela is working to transfer roughly $4 billion in disputed reserves from the Bank of England to New York.

Gold reached a record above $5,500 per troy ounce in January. CME Group’s gold futures contract in the U.S. averaged approximately $125 billion in daily volume during the first half of the year.

ICE’s London contracts will settle against the physical auction prices it manages for all four metals. Contract durations range from same-day to six months. Clearing will take place through ICE’s London division, which operates Brent crude oil futures. Since acquiring the gold benchmark ten years ago, ICE’s auction has grown from four firms to 20 participants, including Jane Street, DRW, Goldman Sachs and Citi.

Daily auction volumes have increased beyond 424,000 ounces, representing growth of more than 30% since 2015.

Source: https://in.investing.com