400oz Gold Contract Cancelled As Silver Demand Strengthens
The CME Comex is the Exchange where futures are traded for gold, silver, and other commodities. The CME also allows futures buyers to turn their contracts into physical metal through delivery. You can find more detail on the CME here (e.g., vault types, major/minor months, delivery explanation, historical data, etc.).
The data below looks at contract delivery where the ownership of physical metal changes hands within CME vaults. It also shows data that details the movement of metal in and out of CME vaults. It is very possible that if there is a run on the dollar, and a flight into gold, this is the data that will show early warning signs.
Gold
We have been tracking this data for years now. Since January of 2025, the market has seen elevated delivery volume far surpassing what had been seen in years past. Then, suddenly activity just stopped. This was the case last month too (which is a major month in gold). Delivery volume this month was half what we had seen in the quietest month since 2024.
It wasn’t a gradual slowdown, it was sudden. As if all of a sudden demand just vanished.
When looked at from a dollar amount perspective (rather than raw ounces), you can see that this September is larger than 2023 and 2024, but that is mostly attributable to the price gain. Otherwise, the amounts would be the same. Compared to 2022 it is way less in terms of ounces.
Net new contracts (contracts that open and settle for immediate delivery) are at the lowest level in two years.
Here is the more interesting chart of the group. During the gold delivery surge that occurred in 2020, the Comex needed to add metal fast. To accomplish this, they opened up a 400-ounce contract and brought on vaults holding 400-ounce bars which are the London LBMA standard. This was done to give confidence to the market in a period of...(READ THIS FULL ANALYSIS 100% FREE HERE).