Precious metals under the microscope: a high-frequency analysis

Taking advantage of a trades-and-quotes high-frequency database, we document the main stylized facts and dynamic properties of spot precious metals, i.e. gold, silver, palladium and platinum. We analyse the behaviours of spot prices, returns, volume and selected liquidity measures. We find clear evidence of periodic patterns matching the trading hours of the most active markets round-the-clock. The time series of spot returns have, thus, properties similar to those of traditional financial assets with fat tails, asymmetry, periodic behaviours in the conditional variances and volatility clustering. Gold (platinum) is the most (least) liquid and least (most) volatile asset. Commonality in liquidities of precious metals is very strong.