KNOWLEDGE BANK
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A
Allocated gold
Physical gold that is stored in a professional vault which belongs to the owner, you. More importantly this piece of gold that you own is not affected by outside factors because it is not an asset of the company.
AU
The chemical symbol for gold, Aurum.
B
Bear Market
A 'bearish' market or downward market is when prices are falling and selling is encouraged.
Bid Price
The price at which traders and buyers are willing to purchase an asset for.
Blockchain
A system used in a way to record information that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use blockchain technology to record and secure every transaction.
Bull Market
A 'bull' market is when the market is rising and buying gold is encouraged.
Bullion
Gold (and other precious metals) in the form of a bar, ingots or specialised coins.
C
Commodity
A physical asset with value based on its commercial use and scarcity.
Cryptocurrency
A digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend.
D
DeFi (Decentralised Finance)
A system by which financial products become available on a public decentralised blockchain network. That makes them open to anyone to use, rather than going through a middleman like a bank or broker.
Deflation
The overall decrease in the cost of an economy's goods and services. What causes deflation you ask? Two main things, a decrease in demand or an increase in supply.
F
Fiat Currency
A government issued currency that is not backed by a commodity such as gold. The value of fiat currency is largely based on the level of the public's trust in the currency provider which is usually its Government or Central Bank.
Fineness
The level of purity a precious metal has, it is measured in 1,000 parts of an alloy. So a gold bar of .995 fineness will contain 995 parts gold and 5 parts of another metal. This is a stricter way of measuring gold purity. This scales from 999.999% (also known as six nines fine) down to 24ct gold at 999 (three nines fine).
Fintech
Short term for 'financial technology'. It refers to the integration of technology into offerings by a financial institution/company to help enhance their service and deliverability to its consumers.
Fine Weight
The metallic weight of a bar as opposed to the gross weight which measures the weight of the gold and alloying metal.
G
Gold Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF)
A type of ETF that is designed to move up and down in price as the market price of gold bullion moves up and down. In an ETF you own shares of the fund, while the fund owns the physical gold
Gold Futures
Contracts between buyers and sellers, where the buyer agrees to purchase a quantity of gold at a predetermined price, at a set date in the future.
Gold Standard
A monetary system that is based on convertibility into gold, eg. paper money backed and interchangeable with gold.
I
Ingot
A type of gold bar. It gets its name from the mould that the bar is cast in.
K
Karat
Measurement of purity. The scale goes from 24ct, over 99.95% pure gold, down to 9ct, which is under 40% purity. Copper and other metals are usually added when manufacturing jewellery as gold on its own is too soft.
N
Nugget (Kangaroo)
Australian one ounce 24 karat gold coin, first produced in 1986. A gold nugget is also a form of naturally occurring gold in its non-refined state.
Numismatics
Gold coins that are valued for their rarity or physical condition, not by the gold content.
P
Physical Gold
Also known as Gold Bullion, available to buy, to have and to physically hold.
S
Safe Haven
A type of investment that is expected to either retain or increase its value during times of market turbulence.
Spot Gold
The price at which gold can be sold and bought right now, as opposed to a date in the future.
Spot Price
The current rate at which gold can be purchased or sold at a specific time and place.
T
Troy Ounce
Standard weight in which gold is measured on the international market, 1 Troy Ounce is 31.1035g.
V
VAT (Value Added Tax)
A tax that is added to a product at every point of the supply chain where value is added to it.
Volatile Market
A trading market usually characterised by wide price fluctuations and heavy trading. Usually resulting from an imbalance of trade orders in one direction (all buys and no sells)
X
XAU
Internationally accepted code for gold.