COMEX: the gold futures market in New York
COMEX is the metals futures exchange in New York and part of CME Group. Its gold future, ticker GC, is a closely watched gold futures contract that plays a major role in price discovery during US trading hours.
What is COMEX?
The Commodity Exchange, COMEX for short, was founded in 1933. It has traded gold futures since 31 December 1974, the day US citizens were once again allowed to own gold. In 1994, COMEX merged with the New York Mercantile Exchange, which was acquired by CME Group in 2008. Today, COMEX is one of several exchanges under the CME Group umbrella.
Trading runs electronically on the CME Globex platform. It starts on Sunday evening US time and runs until Friday, with a daily break of 60 minutes. As a result, COMEX also covers parts of Asian and European trading hours.
How does a gold future work?
A future is a contract to buy or sell gold at a later date at a price agreed today. The standard GC contract covers 100 troy ounces. The price is quoted in US dollars per ounce, and the minimum price fluctuation is 10 cents, or US$10 per contract.
Buyers and sellers post only a security deposit (margin), not the full purchase price. Most positions are closed out before the delivery month or rolled into a later contract. Futures are therefore used mainly for hedging and speculation. Producers can use them to lock in future selling prices, manufacturers their purchase prices. There are also smaller contracts, such as the 1-Ounce Gold future.
Which gold can be delivered?
Anyone who holds a contract through to delivery receives or delivers real gold. According to the COMEX rulebook, it must have a fineness of at least 995 and come from an approved brand. Delivery is either one 100-ounce bar or three kilo bars, with a weight tolerance of 5% either way.
Bars produced from 1 January 2026 must carry the month and year of manufacture in addition to weight, fineness, serial number and brand. For the large London 400-ounce bars, there is a separate contract (Gold Enhanced Delivery), where delivery takes place through clearing house certificates.
What are the COMEX warehouses?
Deliverable gold is held in vaults approved by the exchange. CME Group lists, among others, Brink’s, Loomis, Delaware Depository, HSBC Bank USA and JPMorgan.
CME publishes a report on the holdings in these warehouses every business day. It distinguishes between two categories:
- Registered: gold for which a warehouse receipt (warrant) has been issued and which can be delivered against a future
- Eligible: gold held in an approved warehouse that meets the standard but has no warrant
What does COMEX mean for the real-time gold price?
Many real-time gold price tickers draw on data from the futures market or the London spot market. That is why the displayed price can differ slightly depending on the source: a futures price includes the costs up to the delivery date, a spot price does not.
Because the gold future trades almost around the clock, it provides continuous prices even when it is night in London. When comparing with the LBMA Gold Price or a dealer’s price, check whether a spot price or a futures price is shown, and for which delivery month.
What is an EFP?
EFP stands for ‘Exchange for Physical’. Two parties swap a futures position for an equivalent physical position, often gold loco London. This links the New York futures market with the London spot market without bars having to be shipped across the Atlantic every time.
The price difference between the New York future and the London spot price is also called the EFP. It mainly reflects interest and storage costs until the delivery date. If the difference rises sharply, it is a sign that gold is scarce in New York or that transport is difficult.
