Gold trading: Where, How and Why Buying Gold?

Here we go through everything you need to know about trading with gold, how to do it and what you should look for in a gold trading broker online. Find the best sites where you can buy or sell XAU/GBP, XAU/USD or XAU/EUR, three of the most relevant tickers with the most turnover.

Is buying gold online easy

Yes, by far the best way to get exposure to gold is to buy it as CFD through an online gold broker. The holding then doesn’t need to be stored or kept in a safe place with monthly storage fees. Rather, it is only based on the daily price that can go up and down every day. At the transparent online broker Skilling, the current buying price for gold is 1712.60 XAU/USD and the selling price is 1713.40 XAU/USD. See a top list below or read more in our guide to gold further down or register for a free demo account at Skilling here.

If you want to buy physical gold, there are a number of different options for this as well, for example BullionVault with storage in their bank vault, BullionByPost with insured home delivery up to 55 lbs or Vaultoro with the purchase of gold directly for Bitcoin.

There are a number of really good brokers for gold trading online. Our three favorites are the following:
1. Skilling: Well known Scandinavian founders, innovative platform, low spreads and lightning fast trades.
2. Plus500: One of the industry’s most well-known and sought-after brokers, with all the liquidity guarantors reported on the website and a top-class trading platform.
3. Capital.com: Trade XAU with state-of-the-art AI technology and for real low fees.

Gold trading: 3 brokers worth taking a closer look at

There are a number of really good brokers for gold trading online. Our three favorites are the following:
1. Skilling: Scandinavian founders, innovative platform as well as low spreads and lightning-fast finishes.
2. eToro: One of the industry’s most well-known and sought-after brokers, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with a top-class trading platform.
3. Capital.com: Trade XAU with state-of-the-art AI technology and at really low fees.

The symbol (ticker) for gold trading

XAUUSD or XAU/USD is by far the most common symbol for trading gold. It can be said that both the biggest advantage is also the main disadvantage: gold is traded against the USD.
But in a way, it is quite good for us Brits to measure gold against the USD, as this is a very stable currency that’s been keeping the value very good over time.

3 alternatives to trading gold

• Silver is, just like gold, an attractive precious metal and an asset that can definitely be profitable to trade with. In principle, all online brokers that offer gold also have silver in their range of commodities – which is why it is easy to get started with silver trading. The value is of course considerably longer than for gold, but the return is generally good, which makes silver a good and slightly cheaper alternative.
• Oil – famous as the black gold. Brent oil trading can be good in order to diversify your portfolio. The market has been really turbulent lately and the value has sky rocketed, but many experts are convinced that further oil price hike cannot last forever.
• Other commodity trade such as natural gas, coffee, cotton, etc. Stable demand and also these good assets to increase their risk diversification with. Commodities of this kind are usually available from commodity brokers who have gold in their range – try Capital.com, for example, and choose from over 30 different commodities.

Listed companies where you can invest in gold

Since gold as an asset more or less has no correlation to the rest of the stock market, and thus often increases in value when other assets fall – it is particularly well suited to diversify your portfolio, while getting more risk diversification. Trading gold can be done through a number of different exchange-traded instruments: Pure shares in mining companies that mine gold, gold funds that in turn invest in listed gold companies and certificates in gold – ie CFD trading where you invest in gold price movements, rather than in the underlying the gold supply as such.

On the British stock exchange, there are a number of gold companies to buy shares in – including Pure Gold Mining, Greatland Gold, Condor Gold, Glencore, Goldplat, Great Western Mining, Katoro Gold, Noricum Gold, Panthera Resources and Wishbone Gold.. If, on the other hand, you look at the American market, the supply is of course more generous, with heavyweights such as Barrick Gold Group, AngloGold Ashanti Ltd and Gold Fiels Ltd.

How to trade – physically, stocks, gold funds or CFDs?

Of course, there are both pros and cons to the different types of gold instruments. Direct share purchases in the gold companies can potentially provide a good return, but it also requires extensive research and company analyses of you as a saver and there is of course always the risk that the company is poorly managed and the share price drops. In such a scenario, it does not matter how much the gold price soars – the company may fall in value, and you wish those shares were never bought. Specific stocks got a corporate and stock market risk that is important to be aware of.

If you choose to trade XAU through gold funds, you invest via the fund in several underlying gold companies, which is why you get a better risk spread than with equities. However, the funds can be relatively expensive, so here it is important to be aware of how much of your return is at risk of being eaten up by juicy fees.

CFDs are considered by many to be one of the most advantageous ways to trade gold – because you avoid the stock market risk that comes with primarily pure equities but also funds, and instead invest in the actual price development. It is important to mention, however, that gold certificates are in no way risk-free, especially not if you use a leverage to increase your exposure. The gold price can move quickly both up and down and if you have taken too great risk, neglected analyses and research or are simply too inexperienced in CFD trading – you can lose a lot of your capital. Learn more about how to trade gold and other commodities from home, and what you should think about to succeed in your XAU trading.

Buy physical gold

Today, there are several pages that offer physical gold trading, of which Bullion by Post is the largest and most famous. When you trade, you are de facto owners of physical gold bars – so-called Bullions – but of course it does not mean that you must store them at home. Pages like the previous mentioned can be responsible instead, that your holdings (with your name) are kept in their own safe vault – it is called you buy allocated gold. Purchase of physical gold in this way was until not so long ago only reserved professional investors, banks and investment companies – but thanks to trading platforms made it possible to buy smaller gold bars and parts of larger gold bars, have the previously closed sphere of trading with physically WAU now opened up for private investors.

Buying allocated gold is a great way to secure some of your capital assets and protect them from volatility and unrest on the stock exchange. Here you can read more about how it goes. Another option for the purchase of physical gold is of course to collect gold coins, gold chains and other jewelry at home in the dresser – maybe something for those who prefer a smaller scale trade?

Transport of gold after the purchase

There are a number of international companies involved in the transport of gold.

BrinksGlobal.com is one of the major company’s with transport from London. Brinks undertake full responsibility for all valuables transported and provide outstanding tracking to keep track where the gold is right now.

Why do people invest in gold?

Gold is considered to be a safe card to invest in – an asset that is generally extremely stable in value, and also often increases when it shakes and funnels in the world economy in general. Gold is also a way to protect themselves against inflation thanks to it is a value preservation, and that the facto is only a limited amount to break – but a never-ending demand.

Jeffrey A. Hirsch on Fidelity believes that gold is not the best hedge against inflation. Rather, it is shares that can protect against rampant inflation, he says in a video on Fidelity’s website. At the same time, the British newspaper newspaper The Guardian writes about Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as an alternative hedge against inflation. Check out our Crypto Rack list if you believe in the latter option.

Where is physically stored gold?

Sites that offer trading with allocated gold – and thus responsible for the storage for you – have their own arches for the gold in several places in the world. Full control prevails at how much and what gold belongs to which owners, and your assets are of course protected by solid insurance.

Central banks around the world belong to the largest owners of physical gold, and the storage of these state reserves looks a little different for different countries. For Britain’s part, the most of the country’s gold reserve is kept in the vaults. Around 400 000 gold bars is kept by Bank of England.

When on the day is gold traded Most & Least?

Between 8.00 (GMT) and 13.30 (GMT), the trading of gold is most intense. During lunch time, however, the volume of course fall slightly. You may wonder when during the day, that the least gold trading is taking place? It is mainly at night during European time, and when the US stock exchanges open at 14.30 British time.

What should a good gold trading broker offer?

The best commodity and gold CFD brokers are characterised by:

+Fast finish and high frequency of accepted business when putting in “specific levels”.
+High liquidity through several different liquidity guarantees.
+Low spread.

Buy & Sell Gold: 7 UK gold dealers close to you

Looking for a gold dealer in Stockholm, Manchester, Blackpool or elsewhere in the UK? Here we give you tips on some of the best companies to turn to when you want to buy or sell physically gold.

Direct Bullion
Direct Bullion London specialise in supplying gold bars and coins to both national and international customers. They say they are always aiming to provide a gold standard service for their customers.

Baird & Co.
A London based bullion merchant since 1967, that also offer to buy silver, platinum or palladium. Baird & Co got really long experience and are located in Hatton Gardens in central London.

Chards
Chards been in the gold trading market since 1964. Offer investment gold, digital bullion, vaulted storage for gold and the options to sell your gold to them.