Trading
A trade is a sequence of agreements, not a handshake.
Physical metal moves through assay, freight, customs and settlement before anyone is paid. We work the sequence in order, in writing, and tell you where a parcel stands at each point.
From enquiry to settlement
Six steps, always in this order. We do not start the next one until the last is agreed and written down.
Enquiry
You tell us the metal, the form, the approximate quantity and where it sits. We reply with a yes, a no, or the questions that decide it.
Counterparty due diligence
Both sides exchange the onboarding file, and we establish where the metal and the money come from. We do not skip onboarding for anyone.
Indicative terms
We set out the pricing basis, the assay protocol, who bears freight and insurance, the delivery point and the settlement terms. Nothing in the indicative terms binds either side. That comes with the signed confirmation.
Assay and valuation
The parcel is sampled and assayed by the agreed laboratory or refinery. Fine weight is established from that result, and any dispute is resolved by the umpire procedure agreed in advance.
Logistics and insurance
Carrier, route, cover and customs paperwork are settled before collection. The section below has the detail.
Settlement
Funds and title move on the terms already documented. The trade closes with a statement both sides can reconcile.
How price is arrived at
There is no single price for physical metal. There is a reference, and then there is everything that separates a parcel from that reference.
- Reference
- An agreed market reference for the metal, fixed at a stated time on a stated day. The reference is named in the terms so both sides price from the same number.
- Premium or discount
- The difference between the reference and the parcel, reflecting form, fineness, location, refining cost, counterparty and how quickly the metal can be placed.
- Refining and treatment
- For doré and scrap, the refiner's charges and the expected recovery come off the reference.
- Freight and insurance
- Allocated explicitly between the parties, with the delivery point named. Who pays for what is never left to assumption.
- Fixing
- The moment price is struck. Until it is fixed, both sides carry market risk, and the terms say who carries it.
We do not publish prices. Any figure discussed is indicative until it is fixed under the agreed terms.
Logistics and settlement
This is where a trade that goes wrong usually goes wrong.
Secure freight
Metal moves with specialist carriers under chain of custody, with documented handover at every transfer. Route and carrier are agreed before collection.
Insurance
Cover runs to full value for the whole journey: in transit, in the vault, and while the parcel waits at the refinery. We have no interest in finding out afterwards which hour was uninsured.
Customs and documentation
Export and import paperwork is done before collection. Metal held at customs sits there on our insurance, earning nothing.
Payment
What triggers payment, in which currency and by what date is in the confirmation. Nothing is collected until it is signed.
How we do not work
No FCO, SCO, ICPO or LOI
Full Corporate Offers, Soft Corporate Offers and Letters of Intent are not instruments in the bullion trade. If the first document we receive is one of them, we do not take the conversation further.
No SBLC or MT103 as proof of funds
We do not accept a standby letter of credit, an MT103 screenshot or a "Certificate of Ownership" as evidence that metal or money exists. Evidence is a bank confirmation and a verified assay.
No price before onboarding
We will not quote a firm price to a company we have not onboarded. Before that, any number is a guess, and you would hold us to it.
No dealing by messaging app alone
A conversation may start anywhere. Terms are confirmed in writing from a corporate address, and a trade papers under a signed confirmation.
Most sites describe the good case. The case that decides whether you should deal with us is the other one.
When a trade does not complete
- The assay comes back below expectation
- The agreed umpire procedure runs. If the result stands and the parcel is materially different from what was described, you may take the metal back or accept a repriced trade. The terms say which, before the parcel moves.
- Return freight and who pays it
- Who pays return freight is in the terms before we collect, for every reason a parcel might come back. If it is not written down, it gets argued about afterwards, when nobody wants to pay it.
- A screening hit lands mid-transaction
- The trade stops. Metal already in transit is secured and either returned or held, as the law and the terms allow. You will not always be told why, and we will not pretend otherwise.
- A bank delays or blocks settlement
- You are told the same day, with what the bank has asked for. We do not move metal against a payment that has not cleared, and we do not ask you to.
- We decline after onboarding has begun
- We say so, and we say what category of concern it falls into, as far as the law permits. Documents you gave us are retained only for the period our record-keeping obligations require.
- Title and risk
- The point at which title and risk pass is named in the terms for every transaction. It is never left to be inferred from a delivery note.
Payment instructions
Our bank details are stated in the signed confirmation and do not change. We will never notify a change of bank details by email. If you receive any such message, do not act on it — verify by voice on the number published on this site.
If this is how you work too, we should talk.
Once onboarding is complete, terms follow in writing. Start there.