XAU/USD - this ratio indicates the cost of an ounce of gold in US dollars.
The price of gold is widely used in financial markets around the world. Gold was the basis of the economies of capitalist countries for hundreds of years, until it was abolished gold standard, which led to the expansion of a currency system not backed by gold, in which paper money did not have the intended support of any physical form of monetization.
The peculiarity of this exchange-traded commodity is that Forex brokers it is designated as the ratio of XAU/USD or as GOLD.
The standard letter exchange designation is XAU, recall the name of gold from the periodic table of chemical elements-Aurum.
Trading time
Metal trading in Forex brokers ' terminals is conducted around the clock, the main exchange platforms determined by the principle of supply, demand and turnover for this metal are the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Trading sessions of exchanges have a duration of about 8 hours, the activity of traders in this asset coincides with the time of their work.
General information
The over-the-counter center for the sale of physical gold is Switzerland. Its neutrality made it possible to establish ties from the middle of the XX century to this day with such countries as South Africa and the USSR (when it was in existence). This was how the sale of large volumes of metal "under the counter" was developed , especially since, unlike the London and American stock exchanges, the Swiss acted as dealers, buying up goods with their own money for subsequent resale, while stock brokers were always only intermediaries. The reports provided by Switzerland are indicative, because they sell and buy gold from large hedge funds and Central Banks.
The new circumstances include the occasional bursts of activity for the XAU/USD pair at Asian session. By the time of their appearance, they coincided with the growing problems in the Chinese economy.
Not only spot (physical) gold is traded on the world market, but derivatives (futures and options) are also actively traded, both in America and on the European continent. It is worth noting about the great influence of the market component, which is slightly affected by the cost of production or physical availability. In trader slang, this phenomenon sounds like a saying – "The price of a metal has broken away from its physical data".
Impact of monetary policy
Gold is affected by the "value of money", i.e. the interest rates of the central banks of each country with a developed economy. This is not the only relationship – GDP, unemployment and other macroeconomic factors cause a sharp change of the exchange rate XAU/USD as follows: any deterioration in the state of the economy in a developed country raises quotes, and successes in resolving negative trends lower the gold rate .
The global trend of gold growth was stopped after the formation of a maximum during the 2008 crisis. A subsequent factor in stopping growth was a set of measures to reduce interest rates and the introduction of quantitative easing (QE3) programs by developed economies (following the US Federal Reserve). Investors now have access to" cheap" money " and a craving for risk.
The fall was stopped against the background of tightening US monetary policy and promises of its further continuation.
Correlation
Traders note a high degree of correlations (more than 70%) of the yellow metal with silver. On the metals market due to volatility quotes have a "wide" spread, especially silver.
Other information
Quotes contain a four-digit number and two decimal places (1292.21).