Gold futures explained: GC, MGC and the 1-ounce contract

Gold is the oldest store of value people still trade every day, and the futures market is where most of that price is discovered during US hours. For a trader used to index futures, gold feels familiar and strange at the same time: the same exchange group, the same platform, a completely different set of reasons to move.

This guide covers the three gold contracts listed on COMEX, part of CME Group, and what each one means in dollars.

Three sizes of the same metal

The standard GC contract is the reference market. Micro Gold is exactly one tenth of it with the same tick size, which makes it the natural tool for sizing: ten micros behave like one standard contract, so you can build a position in steps that match your account. The 1-ounce contract goes smaller still, with a coarser tick.

A quick way to feel the difference: if gold moves $20 an ounce in a session, that is $2,000 on one GC, $200 on one MGC and $20 on one 1OZ.

When gold trades

Gold futures trade on CME Globex from Sunday to Friday, 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, with a 60-minute break each day starting at 5:00 p.m. ET. That nearly continuous session matters, because gold responds to events in Asia, Europe and the US alike.

In practice the day has three overlapping acts:

• Asia. Often quieter, but not always. Physical demand and regional news can set the tone before Europe arrives.
• London. The centre of the physical gold market. Liquidity rises noticeably once London opens.
• New York. US economic data, usually released at 8:30 a.m. ET, and the US equity session bring the heaviest volume of the day.

For a trader in Madrid, the New York data window lands in the early afternoon. For a trader in New York, the most active hours start before breakfast.

Delivery and expiry

Unlike the index futures, gold futures are physically deliverable. If you hold a long position into delivery, you are on the hook to take delivery of the metal; if you are short, to deliver it. Retail traders almost never want this, and most brokers close or roll positions well before it can happen.

Contracts are listed monthly, but trading concentrates in a few active months, and traders roll from one to the next ahead of the delivery period. CME's rule is that a contract stops trading at 12:30 p.m. CT on the third last business day of its month. Your platform's continuous chart hides those rolls; your account does not.

What moves the price

CME's own education material lists the usual suspects, and they are a good map:

• US monetary policy. Fed decisions, inflation reports such as CPI and PPI, and the monthly jobs report all move gold, mostly through what they imply for interest rates.
• The US dollar. Gold is priced in dollars and often moves the opposite way to the currency.
• Stability, or the lack of it. Gold is a traditional safe haven. Political or financial stress anywhere in the world can send buyers to it.
• Real yields. Gold pays no interest. When the return on safe bonds after inflation rises, holding metal costs more in lost income, and the reverse is also true.

None of these relationships is a law. They hold on most days and break on some, which is exactly why gold deserves its own approach instead of a strategy borrowed from the indices.

Sizing gold next to index trades

Gold's daily range in dollars per contract is different from the Nasdaq's or the S&P's, and its big moves arrive at different times. Three practical rules:

1. Size in micros first. MGC gives you one-tenth steps. Use them until you know how the metal behaves around data releases.
2. Measure risk in dollars, not ticks. Ten ticks on GC is $100; on MGC it is $10. Decide the dollar loss you accept, then derive the contract count.
3. Expect activity outside your hours. Gold can move hard while you sleep. If you follow gold, decide in advance how you will handle signals that arrive at inconvenient times.

A specialist for the metal

Algomyth treats gold as its own market, with its own engine built for the metal's rhythm rather than an index strategy pointed at a different chart. Its record, like the other two, is published in full on the performance page, and the calculator lets you put your own capital against it at today's prices.

The best way to understand gold's personality is to watch it. The live stream shows every signal the moment it happens, at whatever hour gold decides to move.

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Educational content, not investment advice. Trading futures involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. Any reference to Algomyth results is hypothetical, simulated over historical data, and shown in full on the performance page; past performance does not guarantee future results.