The gold fix is the twice-daily auction in London that produces the LBMA Gold Price, the benchmark figure used to value and settle gold contracts around the world. It runs at 10:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. London time, and a single price comes out of each session after rounds of electronic bidding by a small group of authorized firms. That one number anchors trillions of dollars in contracts, from central bank reserves to the gold ETF sitting in a brokerage account.1ICE Developer Portal. LBMA Gold Price
The current version launched on March 20, 2015, when ICE Benchmark Administration took over and replaced the old phone-based London Gold Fix with a transparent electronic auction. The change followed a series of manipulation scandals, including a £26 million fine against Barclays in 2014 for conflicts of interest and control failures in its participation in the old fixing.2Financial Conduct Authority. Barclays Fined 26m for Failings Surrounding the London Gold Fixing3Intercontinental Exchange. ICE Benchmark Administration Launches LBMA Gold Price
How the Auction Sets the Price
Each session begins with a chairperson posting an opening price based on current market conditions and prevailing spot prices. The direct participants then enter the number of ounces they want to buy or sell at that price. If total buying and total selling don’t line up, the chairperson adjusts the price and runs another round. The auction keeps cycling until the gap between buy orders and sell orders falls within 10,000 ounces. At that point the price locks, and every order placed in the auction settles at that single figure.4LBMA. LBMA Gold Price FAQs
Everything runs on ICE’s WebICE platform. Participants see the aggregate imbalance update in real time, their own orders are visible to them, and house orders are kept separate on screen from client orders. Every bid and offer in every round produces an audit record, so regulators can go back and reconstruct exactly what happened.3Intercontinental Exchange. ICE Benchmark Administration Launches LBMA Gold Price
Price discovery happens in U.S. dollars. The benchmark is also published in British pounds, euros, Australian dollars, Japanese yen, Indian rupees, and Swiss francs, but those non-dollar figures are indicative rates derived from the dollar auction price rather than independent auctions.4LBMA. LBMA Gold Price FAQs
Who Sits at the Table
Only direct participants can enter orders. Each one must be a member of the London Bullion Market Association, and IBA screens every firm and requires assurance that its systems and controls are adequate. All participants follow a published code of conduct, with IBA’s Precious Metals Oversight Committee monitoring compliance.5LBMA. About LBMA Daily Auction Prices6LBMA. LBMA Gold Price
Fifteen institutions hold direct participant status as of 2026:
- Bank of China (London Branch)
- Citibank, N.A. (London Branch)
- Coins ‘N Things Inc.
- DRW Investments, LLC
- Goldman Sachs
- HSBC Bank USA NA
- Jane Street Global Trading, LLC
- JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (London Branch)
- Koch Supply and Trading LP
- Marex
- Morgan Stanley
- Standard Chartered Bank
- StoneX Financial Ltd
- Toronto-Dominion Bank
- Virtu Financial Global Markets, LLC
The mix includes the major bullion banks, market-making firms like Jane Street and Virtu, a commodity trader in Koch Supply, and a retail coin dealer in Coins ‘N Things. That is a much wider bench than the five-bank group that ran the old London Gold Fix.6LBMA. LBMA Gold Price
Direct participants also submit orders on behalf of indirect clients: smaller banks, mining companies, refiners, and institutional investors who don’t join the auction themselves. The participant aggregates those client orders before entering them, so the final price reflects demand well beyond the fifteen firms on the platform.
When It Happens
The two sessions run at 10:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. London time on business days. Those windows are chosen to capture the deepest liquidity: the morning fix catches Asian and European activity, and the afternoon fix picks up New York once U.S. markets open.1ICE Developer Portal. LBMA Gold Price
Because the schedule is pegged to London local time, the clock shifts by an hour against UTC when the UK moves to British Summer Time. A trader in New York sees the afternoon fix land at 10:00 a.m. Eastern during the winter and 11:00 a.m. Eastern during the summer. The auction does not run on UK bank holidays. When a U.S. holiday falls on a London trading day, the auction still happens, but metal will not settle on the U.S. holiday, which can push the value date forward.7LBMA. Value Dates
Why It’s Not the Same as the Spot Price
The gold fix and the gold spot price often get mixed up. The spot price moves continuously throughout the day, updating second by second as orders flow through the London over-the-counter market and other venues. It reflects what a buyer would pay right now for immediate delivery. The LBMA Gold Price is a snapshot: one figure produced twice a day by a structured auction, built specifically to serve as a reference for settling contracts and valuing portfolios.8LBMA. Precious Metal Prices
The two numbers usually sit close together, because the auction’s opening price starts from the prevailing spot market. The fix, though, carries more institutional weight. Gold delivery contracts, mining royalties, and central bank transactions typically reference the LBMA Gold Price rather than a spot quote, because the fix gives both sides one undisputed number instead of a figure that could differ by the second. Using the data in pricing, valuation, or financial products requires a license from IBA.8LBMA. Precious Metal Prices
How the Fix Reaches Everyday Investors
If you own shares in a gold ETF, the fix directly determines what those shares are worth each day. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), the largest physically backed gold ETF, uses the LBMA Gold Price PM as its benchmark and the basis for its daily net asset value. The fund switched to this benchmark from the old London PM Fix on March 20, 2015, the day IBA took over.9State Street Global Advisors. GLD SPDR Gold Shares Other major gold ETFs follow similar conventions, so the afternoon London auction effectively closes out billions of dollars in fund assets held by retail investors around the world.
For anyone buying physical gold, the fix matters less directly but still acts as an anchor. Dealers typically price coins and bars at a markup to the spot price, and the spot price tracks closely with the fix. If you trade gold through a bank or broker that participates in the auction, the settlement price on your transaction may be the fix itself.
What U.S. Investors Owe at Tax Time
The IRS treats physical gold, including bullion bars and most gold coins, as a collectible. That classification carries a steeper tax bill than stocks or bonds. Long-term capital gains on gold held more than a year are taxed at a maximum rate of 28 percent, compared with the 20 percent ceiling on most other long-term capital assets. If your ordinary income tax rate is below 28 percent, you pay the lower rate instead.10Internal Revenue Service. The Taxation of Collectibles Short-term gains on gold held a year or less are taxed as ordinary income.
On the reporting side, any dealer or business that receives more than $10,000 in cash from a gold transaction must file IRS Form 8300. The requirement applies whether the payment arrives in a single transaction or across related transactions.11Internal Revenue Service. Form 8300 and Reporting Cash Payments of Over $10,000 Certain gold sales also trigger Form 1099-B reporting by the broker or dealer; the specific weight and contract thresholds for precious metals are set out in the IRS instructions for that form. State sales tax on bullion varies widely. Most states offer some form of exemption, but the thresholds and conditions differ enough that you should check your own state’s rules before assuming a purchase is tax-free.
Who Watches the Auction
Because the auction runs in London, the Financial Conduct Authority is the primary regulator. Under the UK Benchmarks Regulation, IBA is subject to authorization, governance requirements, and ongoing FCA supervision. The 2014 Barclays enforcement action showed the FCA’s willingness to use its powers: £26 million in penalties for failing to manage conflicts of interest and for inadequate controls over its traders’ participation in the gold fixing between 2004 and 2013. The individual trader responsible was fined and permanently banned from the industry.2Financial Conduct Authority. Barclays Fined 26m for Failings Surrounding the London Gold Fixing The electronic system that replaced the old process was designed partly in response. Segregating house and client orders, giving every participant a real-time view of aggregate supply and demand, and capturing the full round-by-round record all make it harder for any single participant to nudge the final price.
In the United States, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has jurisdiction over gold as a commodity under the Commodity Exchange Act. Section 6(c)(1) of the CEA, strengthened by the Dodd-Frank Act, prohibits the use of any manipulative or deceptive device in connection with a commodity in interstate commerce. Section 9(a)(2) makes price manipulation of any commodity a felony punishable by up to $1 million in fines and up to 10 years in prison.12Federal Register. Prohibition of Market Manipulation The CFTC has used these provisions in gold and silver cases, including matters involving the London benchmark. The scope of the agency’s authority over physical precious metals is still an evolving area of law, with recent court decisions testing how far its reach extends into spot bullion transactions.