(6 October 2026 – United Kingdom) Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has launched precious metals futures contracts in London tied to the city’s daily physical auction prices, covering gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.
The move marks the latest attempt to establish a derivatives market alongside London’s dominant physical bullion hub — the world’s largest, handling close to $190bn in over-the-counter gold trades daily — after previous efforts by the London Metal Exchange and others failed to gain traction.
The launch comes as the global gold market faces sustained disruption from geopolitical tensions, sanctions, and tariff uncertainty. Following US trade policy moves in April 2025, large volumes of gold were shipped to New York as futures prices there diverged from London physical prices — a dislocation a local futures market could help mitigate. Gold has since hit a record above $5,500 a troy ounce, driven by safe-haven demand, while central banks across Europe and Asia are reconsidering where they store reserves.
ICE’s contracts will clear through its London arm and cover tenors from one day to six months. Since taking over the London gold benchmark a decade ago, ICE has grown auction participation from four to 20 institutions, with average daily volumes up more than 30 percent to over 424,000 ounces.