CME Group Cutting Margins For Gold, Silver, Copper Futures

 CME Group is lowering margins for gold, silver and copper futures on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The new rates will be effective as of the close of business on Monday, according to a notice from CME Group. The exchange operator said the changes were the result of “the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage.”

Margins act as collateral on futures trades. CME Group also changed margins for electricity, equity-index, ethanol, natural gas futures and a number of other products.

In the case of the main 100-ounce gold-futures contract, CME Group trimmed the “initial” margin for new  speculative trades to $5,940 from $6,600. The “maintenance” margin for existing speculative trades, plus all hedge positions, was cut to $5,400 from $6,000.

For the 5,000-ounce silver contract, CME Group lowered the initial speculative margin to $8,250 from $9,075. The  margin requirement for maintenance speculative positions, plus all hedge trades, was lowered to $7,500 from $8,250.

For the Comex copper contract, the initial speculative margin was cut to $2,970 from $3,300. The margin for maintenance speculative and all hedge positions was reduced to $2,700 from $3,000.

CME Group also lowered the margins for the smaller-sized gold, silver and copper products, as well as aluminum and iron ore.