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Trading the World Gold Market   by Robert Thomas

Gold has experienced a spectacular rise recently. I say recently, the metal has been trending upwards for months.

With limited supply, the pressure should always be easier to apply to the upside. However, if this were the only argument then precious metals prices should never really fall.

Perhaps the market is not particularly overbought at the moment so there is still good room for manoeuvre to the upside; unfortunately, the same can of course be said for the downside.

We are in uncharted territory. With inflation remaining weak, interest rates likely to stay low, the US Dollar showing no real signs of recovery, banks still looking a bit weak and fears over the strength of the rebound in world growth, all the factors pushing Gold to the upside continue to linger on.

Looking at gold on a given day though, the price can easily rally on any weakness in the US Dollar. Of course when a market jumps like that then some investors will inevitably close their positions and take their profits. That can then cause the markets to fall, albeit temporarily.

This having been said, selling Gold has proved to be an expensive mistake for quite some months. Aside from minor corrections, the price has slowly ground higher through the whole period.

Not only this but since breaking above the critical $985 level back in September 2009 and then repeatedly failing to get back below it, the omens have started to favour yet another spike higher.

In an era of concern over the value of assets, gold holds its age old allure.

There is still much uncertainty in the markets. The big recipient of all this uncertainty remains the precious metal and it is tempting to speculate that no matter which currency gains the upper hand, the continued undervaluation of the emerging BRIC country currencies will perhaps drive the price of gold to undreamt of levels.

So what are the options for the investor? I prefer to spread bet on gold. However, before I continue, it should be noted that, as with all forms of speculation, there is a negative side. You can lose more than your initial stake with this from of trading.

One of the main reasons for trading gold through spread betting is that you can go long or short with a spread bet. This means you can speculate on gold to either rise or fall, particularly useful in volatile markets.

You also get instant access to thousands of financial markets. Yes you can trade gold spreads but you can also trade the future value of foreign exchange markets like Dollar / Yen and Euro / Sterling as well as stocks and shares or the future price of other commodities like crude oil.

With spread bets, no assets or ownership rights are exchanged, you are simply speculating on the future price of a market, the benefit here is that spread betting is tax free*.

Before you trade though, note that spread betting carries a high level of risk so you should only speculate with money you can afford to lose. Like the adverts say, before trading, please ensure that spread betting matches your investment needs, make sure you familiarise yourself with the risks involved and, where necessary, seek independent advice.

* Based on current UK tax law, if you pay tax in another jurisdiction then tax law may vary.

About the Author

Robert Thomas is a seasoned financial spread commentator who offers strategic and tactical opinion on trading commodities such as gold and crude oil.