Who Sets the Price of Gold? London or New York?

We investigate which of the two main centers of gold trading – the London spot market and the New York futures market – plays a more important role in setting the price of gold. Using intraday data during a 17-year period we find that although both markets contribute to price discovery, the New York futures play a larger role on average. This is striking given the volume of gold traded in New York is less than a tenth of the London spot volume, and illustrates the importance of market structure on the process of price discovery.

Who Sets the Price of Gold? London or New York?