IB UK Spot Gold and Spot Silver
Products
Trade London Precious and Base Metal Derivatives
The IBKR Advantage
- Commissions start at just 1.5 basis points, or 0.015%
- Overnight financing rates for short positions start at BM + 1.00%
- Gain access to UK spot gold and silver price movements without owning the physical metals.
- Access wholesale pricing without having to trade wholesale quantities
IBKR (UK) Unallocated Gold and Silver
Key Information Documents for IBUK Gold & Silver
IBKR (UK) OTC derivatives referencing the price movements of physical Gold (XAUUSD) and Silver (XAGUSD) are available to qualifying customers.1
IBKR (UK) Unallocated Gold/Silver are not listed instruments but traded over the counter between qualifying clients and IBKR (UK). Unallocated means that IBKR has a general claim on physical gold held by a bullion dealer, forming the basis for the client contract. Unallocated represents the most popular and straightforward way of trading gold and silver.
IBKR (UK) Unallocated Gold/Silver enable clients to have exposure to price movements of physical gold or silver without owning them outright. Thus, if the price of physical gold or silver traded on the London bullion market rises, clients receive cash from IBKR (UK) and vice versa. London Unallocated Gold/Silver can be bought long or sold short to suit clients’ view of market direction in the future.
IBKR (UK) Unallocated Gold/Silver are marginable products enabling clients to obtain exposure in excess of the cash available in the account. The level of leverage depends on the margin requirement as determined by IBKR (UK) from time to time.
Additional benefits include:
Low, Transparent Commissions and Financing Rates
Commissions start at just 1.5 basis points for Gold and 3 basis points for Silver, and overnight financing rates for leveraged positions start at the benchmark rate + 1.5%, with lower rates available for larger balances.
Short positions incur a borrow fee starting at benchmark + 1%, with lower rates available for larger balances. There is also an Unallocated Carrying Fee of 10 basis points charged for storage. Settlement is T+2.
Efficient Pricing in Accessible Quantities
The London bullion market is a wholesale market. However, IBKR clients have access to its efficient pricing, as quoted by IBKR's liquidity providers, without having to trade in wholesale quantities.
IBKR Unallocated Gold/Silver are quoted units of 1 troy ounce and quoted against USD. IBKR passes through prices from its liquidity providers without widening the spread.
IBKR (UK) OTC Futures on LME Metals
IBKR LME OTC Futures2 provide clients (excluding residents of the US, Canada, Hong Kong, and Israel) synthetic access to the London Metal Exchange, a peer to peer exchange not generally available to nonmember investors.
- Unique Access to Industrial Metals Trading: LME OTC contracts on Aluminium, Copper, Lead, Tin, Nickel and High Grade Zinc access the liquidity of the world's leading metals trading venue.
- Trade highly liquid 3rd Wednesday contracts: 3rd Wednesday contracts provide electronic access to a contract with monthly expiry, like a future. They represent around 65% of open interest on the exchange.
- Transparent Quotes and Executions: IBKR streams quotes from the LME (L2 market data) and does not widen the quote. Every client order is first hedged on exchange and the LME OTC order filled at the price of the hedge.
Key Information Documents for IBUK LME OTC (KID)
Spot Gold and Spot Silver Facts
A Troy Ounce is the traditional unit of weight used for precious metals. The term derives from the French town of Troyes, where this unit was first used in the Middle Ages. One troy ounce is equal to 1.0971428 ounces avoirdupois. In the bullion market, all references to ounces mean troy ounces.
The Loco London Spot Price is the basis for virtually all transactions in gold and silver in London. It is a quotation made by dealers based on US dollars per fine ounce for gold and silver. IBKR's liquidity providers provide quotes based on this price. Settlement is (T+2).
Loco London Gold and Silver are considered "unallocated", which represents the most popular and straightforward way of trading gold and silver. Credit balances are backed by the general stock of the bullion dealer who has the gold or silver, and debit balances represent the indebtedness of the trader to the bullion dealer. In other words, a position in gold or silver is not an entitlement to specific bars of gold or silver.
Risk Warnings
- IBKR (UK) OTC derivatives referencing the price movement of physical gold, silver or base metals are offered by Interactive Broker (U.K.) Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), register number 208159.
- IBKR (UK) gold, silver and base metal trading is not suitable for all investors. Due to the leveraged nature of these products, your losses may exceed your initial investment and may cause your account to go into negative balance.
- IBKR (UK) is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. This means that if IBKR (UK) is unable to pay out, retail investors and certain other investors may be eligible to make a claim of up to £85,000 but may otherwise lose all of their initial investment and any returns generated on their initial investment.
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Visit Traders' AcademyDisclosures
- IBKR (UK) Gold and Silver trading is available to customers who are not legal residents of the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan or Singapore.
- The LME metal futures are OTC derivative contracts with IBKR (UK) as the counterparty. The UK Metal futures reference the corresponding LME future in terms of price, lot size, type and specification but are themselves not registered contracts. Physical delivery is not permitted.
Eligible customers must apply for Metals trading permissions via the Trading Permissions page in Client Portal.