The 'spot' price of a metal like gold (XAU) or silver (XAG) is the cash price of that metal at that time. Spot metal traders can use both long- and short-term price charts to monitor gold or silver's price movements, and then place a trade depending on how they anticipate the price moves. Traders choose to hold either a long- or short-term position according to their strategy.
Metals are commodities that can be traded on the metal exchanges such as the London Metal Exchange (LME), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Commodities trading used to require time, money and expertise, whereas now, trading has been democratised with more choices for participation.
When traders invest in spot metals, they are essentially exchanging a spot metal for a currency. Gold is the most popular commodity offering high liquidity and trading it through CFDs allows for significant leverage and measured risk. Platinum, palladium and silver are also important due to their industrial applications as well as their use in the manufacturing of jewellery. Platinum is considered the most volatile of the precious metals, whereas the lesser-known palladium has more industrial uses.