Gate Precious Metals Contracts Introduction: Learn to Trade Gold (XAU) and Silver (XAG) in 5 Minutes

The boundaries between digital assets and traditional finance are becoming blurred on the Gate platform. In January 2026, Gate officially launched the “Precious Metals Zone,” bringing gold and silver into the 7×24-hour non-stop world of crypto contract trading.

Gold prices have increased by approximately 60% in 2025, marking one of the strongest annual performances since 1979, while silver has seen an even higher gain. Entering 2026, although the market may experience oscillations and consolidation, professional institutions like Metals Focus analyst Jacob Smith predict that the average price of gold in 2026 could be around $5,100, and the average price of silver approximately $61.

Market Integration

The global financial landscape is undergoing profound changes, and the integration of the traditional precious metals market with the crypto world is creating unprecedented trading opportunities. Against the backdrop of ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, gold and silver, as classic safe-haven assets, are being redefined.

In early 2026, the precious metals market continued its strong performance from 2025. Data shows that spot gold has gained nearly 7% year-to-date, with prices briefly surpassing $4,600; silver performed even better, with a roughly 23% increase. Compared to mainstream crypto assets like Bitcoin (current price $92,640.3) and Ethereum ($3,218.73), precious metals have exhibited unique trends during certain periods.

Traditional precious metals trading faces time and geographic restrictions, while the crypto market offers 24/7 liquidity. The perpetual contracts for precious metals launched by Gate serve as a bridge connecting these two worlds. This innovative product allows traders to participate in price fluctuations of traditional precious metals without physically holding gold or silver.

Core Product

What exactly is the Gate precious metals contract? In short, it is a perpetual contract settled and margined in USDT, with its price anchored to the global spot market prices of gold or silver. Unlike traditional futures with fixed expiration dates, perpetual contracts have no expiry, allowing flexible position holding based on market conditions. Gate’s precious metals perpetual contracts support up to 50x leverage, providing flexible options for traders with different risk preferences.

In terms of product design, the price index for Gate’s precious metals perpetual contracts is derived from multiple mainstream precious metals trading markets, enhancing pricing stability and transparency. This design adheres to traditional financial asset valuation logic while meeting the high-frequency trading and risk control needs of the crypto derivatives market.

Perpetual contracts have brought revolutionary changes to precious metals trading. Traditional markets are limited by exchange opening hours, which can lead to price gaps and liquidity vacuums during major macro events. The 24/7 trading mechanism of crypto perpetual contracts ensures more continuous price movements, allowing traders to adjust their positions at any time based on market dynamics.

Simple Introduction

Getting started with trading precious metals contracts on Gate involves just three basic steps: account setup, fund transfer, and initial trade. Even crypto trading beginners can master the basics within 5 minutes.

First, you need to have a Gate account that has completed KYC (identity verification). If you don’t have an account yet, visit the official Gate website or download the app, and you can complete registration in a few minutes.

Once your account is ready, you need to deposit funds. Gate offers various deposit methods, including instant top-up via credit/debit cards and P2P peer-to-peer trading. For beginners, the simplest way is to buy USDT directly with a credit card, with a minimum deposit of just $2.

After depositing, go to the “Contracts” section on the Gate platform, find the “Precious Metals Zone,” and select the product you want to trade—gold (XAU) or silver (XAG). Before your first trade, transfer USDT from your spot account to your contract account as margin.

Leverage setting is a key part of trading decisions. Gate offers adjustable leverage from 1-50x. For high-volatility products like precious metals, it’s recommended that beginners start with lower leverage (such as 5-10x).

You also need to choose the margin mode: cross margin (all trading pairs share margin) or isolated margin (each trading pair has its own margin). Isolated margin is more suitable for new traders, as it isolates the risk of individual trades.

First Trade

After understanding the basics, let’s complete your first precious metals contract trade. Log in to the Gate platform, go to the “Contracts” section’s “Precious Metals Zone,” where you will see trading pairs for gold (XAU/USDT) and silver (XAG/USDT).

Choose the trading direction: go long (expecting price increase) or go short (expecting price decrease). Gate’s precious metals contracts support two-way trading, so you can profit whether the market rises or falls.

Select the order type: limit order (trade at a specified price), market order (execute quickly at the best current market price), or conditional order (auto-execute when a trigger price is reached). For your first attempt, a market order is the simplest choice.

Decide on the trading amount. Gate’s contracts offer flexible options for traders of different capital sizes, allowing even small funds to participate in precious metals trading.

Risk management is key to successful trading. On the Gate platform, you can set take-profit and stop-loss orders to automatically manage your positions. For assets like precious metals that can fluctuate sharply due to macro factors, proper risk control is especially important.

Risk Insights

While trading precious metals contracts offers abundant opportunities, it also involves significant risks, especially when using leverage.

Leverage is a double-edged sword. Gate provides up to 50x leverage, but that doesn’t mean you should always use the maximum. High leverage amplifies losses and increases the risk of forced liquidation. Since precious metals are already volatile, adding leverage can cause positions to be forcibly closed due to short-term market fluctuations.

Market volatility risk requires particular attention. In 2026, precious metals prices may trend downward or consolidate sideways, bringing both trading opportunities and risks. When trading on Gate, monitor your liquidation price closely and consider setting stop-loss orders to limit potential losses.

Money management is the foundation of long-term trading success. It’s recommended that risk per trade not exceed 1-2% of your total account funds to prevent a few losing trades from severely impacting your overall account health.

Stop-loss and take-profit strategies are crucial for risk control. When the market price hits your preset stop-loss level, the system will automatically execute the order. This automated risk management tool helps traders maintain discipline and avoid emotional decisions.

Strategy Planning

Once you master the basics, you can enhance trading efficiency through various strategies. Analyzing multiple timeframes can provide a more comprehensive market view. For precious metals trading, it’s advisable to observe both the daily chart for long-term trends and the hourly chart for short-term fluctuations to identify high-probability trading opportunities. Combining fundamental and technical analysis is key to improving decision quality. Precious metals prices are highly sensitive to macro factors, including the US dollar trend, interest rate expectations, inflation data, and global risk sentiment. Before and after major data releases, you may need to adjust your position size or leverage to manage volatility risk.

Perpetual contracts for precious metals offer crypto traders a unique hedging tool. When crypto markets become more volatile, some investors turn to gold for safe-haven purposes, creating cross-market linkages worth paying attention to. Allocating funds across different asset classes can help build a more balanced portfolio and reduce risks associated with any single market.

Continuous learning is essential to adapt to market changes. The Gate platform provides abundant educational resources, including market analysis, trading tutorials, and risk management guides. Regularly studying these materials can help you better understand the characteristics of the precious metals market and how to use trading tools effectively.

On the other side of the trading screen, a seasoned trader has just converted part of their crypto assets into gold contracts as a hedge against market uncertainty, like a “digital gold bar.” Meanwhile, a young investor is practicing his first cross-market arbitrage strategy through small fluctuations in silver contracts. Behind these flashing quotes lies a historic handshake between ancient precious metals and blockchain technology—both finding a common language in the same trading engine—an eternal pursuit of value storage and relentless optimization of liquidity efficiency. As the boundaries between crypto markets and traditional finance continue to blur, the launch of Gate’s precious metals zone offers investors a new option that combines safe-haven assets with digital trading efficiency.