Gold Futures Contracts: COMEX Specs, Delivery, and Taxes

A standard COMEX gold futures contract represents 100 troy ounces of gold at a minimum fineness of 0.995, quoted in U.S. dollars and cents per troy ounce with a $0.10 minimum tick worth $10 per contract. The contract trades under the ticker GC on CME Group’s COMEX division, lists on a February, April, June, August, October, and December cycle, and stops trading on the third-to-last business day of the delivery month.¹² CME Group Rulebook Chapter 113 is the governing document, and the exchange decides how far out the listed months extend.

Smaller and Alternate Contracts

If 100 ounces is more exposure than you want, CME Group lists a Micro Gold futures contract under the ticker MGC. It covers 10 troy ounces, keeps the same $0.10 tick size, and moves $1.00 per tick. The Micro is physically deliverable just like the full contract.³

For larger institutional participants, the Enhanced Delivery contract (ticker 4GC) accepts 400-ounce, 100-ounce, and kilo bar sizes, which gives firms more flexibility around delivery logistics.⁴

Deliverable Gold: Purity, Bars, and Markings

Gold tendered against a standard GC contract must be at least 99.5% pure. Each delivery consists of either one 100-troy-ounce bar or three one-kilogram bars, and the exchange allows a 5% weight tolerance above or below the 100-ounce nominal to account for casting variation.¹

Every deliverable bar must have the weight, fineness, bar number, and refiner’s stamp incised directly into the metal, and the refiner must appear on the exchange’s approved brands list. Bars produced on or after January 1, 2026, must also carry the month and year of production.¹ A bar missing any required hallmark or falling short of the purity threshold cannot settle a contract.

Margin and Position Limits

You don’t post the full contract value. You post margin, which functions as a performance bond. CME Group sets an initial margin to open the position and a lower maintenance margin that the account must stay above while the position is open.⁵

As of mid-2026, maintenance margin on a standard 100-ounce gold contract runs roughly $30,600 to $31,500 per contract, depending on the delivery month.⁶ These numbers move as gold’s volatility shifts. If your account slips below the maintenance level, the broker issues a margin call for enough funds to restore the account to the initial margin. Miss the call, and the broker can liquidate the position at whatever loss exists at that moment.⁵ A $30 move against a single contract is a $3,000 account hit, and gold can move that in a session.

On top of margin, the CFTC enforces a federal speculative spot-month position limit of 6,000 contracts for COMEX gold futures.⁷ The cap applies during the delivery month and keeps any single speculator from cornering physical supply. Bona fide hedgers, such as mining companies locking in production revenue, can apply for exemptions.

Physical Delivery: The Three-Day Cycle

Most positions close out well before expiration. For the ones that go to delivery, the process runs on three sequential days: Intention Day, Notice Day, and Delivery Day.⁸

Intention Day

A short holder initiates delivery by submitting a notice of intention through the Deliveries Plus application. The notice must include electronic warrants matching the contract count, and those warrants must already sit in the seller’s clearing firm’s account, representing gold held at a COMEX-approved depository. The earliest intention day is two business days before the first business day of the delivery month, and intentions can be filed through one business day before the month’s last business day.⁸

Buyers do not file an acceptance. The clearinghouse assigns deliveries to the oldest outstanding long positions on a first-in, first-out basis, typically on the evening of Intention Day between about 8:15 and 8:30 p.m. Central Time.⁸

Notice Day and Delivery Day

The morning after Intention Day, the clearinghouse issues invoices to both sides showing the approved depository, warrant details, and settlement amount. On Delivery Day the exchange runs a simultaneous swap: the buyer’s clearing firm wires the full purchase price while the electronic warrant transfers into the buyer’s Deliveries Plus inventory.⁸ Delivery can occur on any business day during the delivery month but cannot extend past the last business day.²

The warrant itself is a digital title to a specific bar in a specific vault. It records the brand, weight, warrant number, and warehouse location. The seller’s clearing firm has to make sure deliverable-grade warrants are registered and available before the delivery cycle starts.⁸

Storage, Fees, and Withdrawing the Metal

Once the warrant transfers, the gold usually stays in the vault and the new owner picks up the carrying costs. Those costs are capped by exchange rule. Monthly storage on a standard gold contract cannot exceed $20.00, and the delivery-out charge for pulling gold from the vault is capped at $35.00 per contract.⁹ Depositories can charge less but not more. Insurance and transportation outside the vault are the owner’s problem.

To physically remove gold, you cancel the warrant. Only the issuing facility can cancel it, and the cancellation requires an endorsement from the clearing member along with delivery instructions. Facilities schedule outbound shipments first-come, first-served. If loading orders for a cancelled warrant come in by the 20th of the month, the depository has to release the metal by the last business day of that month, provided storage charges are current and the owner has documents establishing good title. The buyer’s clearing firm also absorbs the loading-out labor charges.⁹

Delivery Default

Failing to make or take delivery is treated as an act detrimental to the exchange under Chapter 7 of the NYMEX/COMEX Rulebook, which opens the door to disciplinary action. The Clearing House Risk Committee can assess damages, and the disciplinary rules in Chapter 4 may add further penalties.⁹

A defaulting seller’s financial liability is capped at reasonable damages, measured as the difference between the delivery price and the market price at the time delivery was due. The clearinghouse does not guarantee physical performance of the metal. A buyer who fails to pay or accept delivery triggers a debit to the clearing member’s account for whatever is needed to complete the transaction.⁹

Tax Treatment

COMEX gold futures are Section 1256 contracts under the Internal Revenue Code. Regardless of holding period, any gain or loss splits automatically into 60% long-term and 40% short-term capital gain or loss.¹⁰ For most taxpayers the blended rate beats the ordinary short-term capital gains rate on a comparable short-held stock position.

Section 1256 contracts are also marked to market at year-end. Even if the position stays open on December 31, any unrealized gain or loss is treated as if you sold and immediately repurchased at the settlement price, and the 60/40 split applies to that paper amount.¹¹ Reporting goes on IRS Form 6781.

One trap worth flagging: once you take physical delivery and later sell the bullion itself, that sale is taxed as a collectible at a maximum long-term rate of 28%, not the lower rates applied to stocks. The 60/40 benefit only runs while you’re in the futures contract, not after conversion to metal.

1
CME Group. COMEX Rulebook Chapter 113 – Gold Futures
2
CME Group. Gold Futures and Options Fact Card
3
CME Group. Micro Gold Futures Contract Specs
4
CME Group. Gold (Enhanced Delivery) Overview
5
CME Group. Margin – Know What Is Needed
6
CME Group. Gold Futures Margins
7
CFTC. Position Limits for Derivatives
8
CME Group. Precious Metals Physical Delivery Process
9
CME Group. NYMEX/COMEX Rulebook Chapter 7 – Delivery Facilities and Procedures
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1256 – Section 1256 Contracts Marked to Market
11
Internal Revenue Service. Form 6781 – Gains and Losses From Section 1256 Contracts and Straddles