Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Gold OTC derivatives

Total OTC derivatives are up from ~414 trillion to ~516 trillion for notional amounts outstanding (+24.6%) and up from 9.682 trillion to 11.140 trillion at gross market values (+15%).

Gold OTC derivatives are actually down from 0.640 trillion to 0.426 trillion for notional amounts outstanding (-33.4%) and from 56 billion to 47 billion at gross market values (-16%).

Gold OTC derivatives are still just a tiny part of total OTC derivatives (less then 0.1% for notional value and a~0.42% at gross market values)

The decline of gold OTC derivatives is probably a direct result of:

1) De-Hedging by gold producers.
2) Market participants move their business from OTC derivatives into more liquid, transparent and regulated markets such as COMEX (GC) and CBOT (ZG).

You can see the BIS OTC derivatives report here