Gold coin futures contract for August delivery will be offered form Jan. 11 on the Iran Mercantile Exchange.
Each IME gold coin futures contract is for ten Emami gold coins. Each Emami gold coin is presently valued at 9,885,000 rials.
Currently the IME is offering gold futures with settlement dates from January to July.
The contracts will open without a price change limit. The volatility limit will be imposed on the contracts 30 minutes after the open.
Due to low trade volume, the IME imposes a volatility limit on futures contracts to limit possible price manipulation. The limit for contract price fluctuation is currently under five percent of opening price per day.
The base price for the contract will be determined in an auction before offering the contract for trade. The base price will also establish the daily volatility limit. If the auction does not go as planned, the contract’s offering will be postponed to the next trading session.
Due to high volatility and recent increases in contract prices, the IME raised the initial margin in Tehran’s gold futures market by five percent from Dec. 17.
Traders are required to put up 21 million rials ($601 at market exchange rate) as initial margin for each gold bullion coin futures contract.
The initial margin was lowered in September as Coin futures saw little trading. But now with a hike in futures trade, mirroring the increase of gold coin trade in Tehran’s market, they have been raised.
The initial margin, which must be deposited in the account to start trading contracts, as a down payment for the delivery of the contract and ensuring that the parties honor their obligations, was raised to record highs in 2012, due to an increase in gold coin prices.
