MCX Gold Petal futures

The country's premier commodity exchange Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) has launched 1 gram gold contract namely Gold Petal futures contract, which is primarily launched targeting small traders. Already there are many such contracts developed by MCX like Gold (1 Kg), Gold Mini (100 grams) and Gold Guinea (8 grams).

The trading unit of the gold contract is 1 gram and the initial margin required to trade will be 4%, which would be around Rs.100, based on current market price of Rs.2100. The delivery of contract is possible in dematerialised or physical form, but the minimum quantity has to 8 gm.The physical delivery is available in multiples of eight gram coins with London Bullion Manufacturers Association (LBMA) certified 999 purity. The delivery centers are G4 Securitas at Mumbai, and other major cities.

There are many Gold ETFs like Gold Bees by Benchmark funds and many other ETFs by various fund houses like Reliance, HDFC available. Small investors can take the route of ETFs rather than the current product by MCX, since this would lead them to margin trading. This is because many are unaware of the risks involved in margin trading and their consequences of it.

Hence it is better to buy gold only through ETFs. Be a wise investor !