ICE Launches Gold Futures in London After Three-Year Hiatus
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has launched gold futures trading in London, marking the city's first such offering since 2022. The move, reported by the Financial Times, also includes futures for silver, platinum, and palladium. These contracts are priced based on ICE's daily London auctions, which set benchmark prices for the four metals. The futures cover delivery periods ranging from one day to six months and are cleared through ICE's London arm, which also handles the Brent crude oil contract.
London remains a critical hub for gold trading, handling nearly $190 billion daily in over-the-counter gold deals and holding approximately $1.4 trillion of the metal in its vaults. However, the city has lacked a gold futures contract since the London Metal Exchange (LME) discontinued its own in 2022 due to low volumes. Gold also dominates the retail market, accounting for about 80% of the metals business in global CFD broker volumes during the first half of 2025.
ICE took over the London gold price in 2015, replacing a bank-run fixing with an electronic auction. Since then, the number of auction participants has grown from four to 20, including major players like Jane Street, DRW, Goldman Sachs, and Citi. Average daily auction volume has increased by over 30% since 2015, reaching more than 424,000 ounces. Chris Rhodes, president of ICE Futures Europe, emphasized that derivatives markets support the physical market.
ICE's new offering competes with CME Group, which dominates the gold futures market with an average daily trading volume of roughly $125 billion in the first half of 2025. ICE's US gold market trails both CME and Shanghai. The London version of the contract keeps listing and clearing within the UK, potentially reducing price dislocations between New York and London. For instance, after US tariff announcements in April 2025, New York futures traded above London physical prices, leading to significant gold shipments to the US.