CME Group has reduced the amount of collateral needed to trade gold futures to invite greater speculation in gold, The Wall Street Journal reports. As of close of business on June 20, speculators in the benchmark gold contract will have put up an initial margin of $6,075 per contract, down from $6,751.
To hold the contract overnight, traders must maintain $4,500 of the initial margin, a decline from $5,001. The exchange operator also decreased the initial and maintenance margin requirements for hedgers and exchange members, to $4,500 from $5,001 previously.
Click here for the story from The Wall Street Journal.