Competition for the COMEX? Hong Kong Exchange Offers Gold Future Contracts in USD with Physical Deli

The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx) has received authorisation from the Securities and Futures Commission and will make its trading debut on May 18, 2011 with the 1-kilo gold futures contract offered in US dollars with physical delivery in Hong Kong.

The ATS authorisation grants HKMEx the right to offer market participants, through its member firms, the use of its state-of-the-art electronic platform to trade commodities. The Exchange will begin trading with at least 16 members including some of the world’s largest financial institutions as well as several well-established brokerages in Hong Kong.

“We are very excited about this historic day. It allows us to establish a liquid and vibrant international commodities exchange based in Hong Kong, linking China with the rest of Asia and the world,” said Barry Cheung, chairman of HKMEx.

Commodity Online
Market Watch


Could this make the manipulation so prevalent in the COMEX a thing of the past?

the Comex monopoly appears to be over, and going forward the exchange will have to be far more sensitive about angering broad swaths of the population using 5 consecutive margin hikes in 9 days. The new exchange will also make the now traditional "banging the close" operation (or "banging the whatever" as the May 1 15% drop from $49 to $42 in minutes demonstrated) obsolete, as traders will have options of where to route orders from the hours of 0800 HKT to 2300 HKT.

Bottom line: if Chinese demand for gold and silver is as strong as it was a week ago, and it is, the recent Comex-directed plunge in precious metals is about to the BTFDed.

zero hedge


I don't know if the same old manipulation will go on over in Hong Kong, but I hope not. I would hope the more competition the harder it is to manipulate. Maybe the massive price swings caused by manipulation will be a thing of the past.

reply to post by stephinrazin



Can you explain this for me...I've never heard of that acronym before.

Bottom line: if Chinese demand for gold and silver is as strong as it was a week ago, and it is, the recent Comex-directed plunge in precious metals is about to the BTFDed.

reply to post by iamhobo


I cannot tell if you are being sarcastic, but I am guessing yes. If you are not I apologize. The acronym is a less than polite phrasing of being in a great deal of trouble. Actually, maybe not. Now I don't even know to be honest.

If the COMEX has competition than it may be they will have trouble suppressing prices. If there is another exchange that can replace the COMEX it will be very important. It could mean that the market will leave an exchange that so blatantly manipulates prices, and changes margins on a dime.

I wonder what happens though with the etfs if the COMEX gets into real trouble?

Originally posted by stephinrazin

I wonder what happens though with the etfs if the COMEX gets into real trouble?

edit on 9-5-2011 by stephinrazin because: (no reason given)

If the COMEX gets into trouble like delay or deny delivery due to shortage of precious metals, the ETFs derivatives will either crash or get suspended. Then, the real price of gold and silver will skyrocket because they're scarce.

The CME retard syndrome is obvious. They impose margin hike every day in at least one commodity.

And Today's Margin Hike

The Obama administration is actually chasing away commodity investment money on the fake reason to control speculation. Investors can always go elsewhere.