Are CME’s New 1 oz Gold Futures Catching On?

The new contract has been averaging 3,972 contracts per day, or $12.26 million in notional gold value—an impressive figure for a newly launched product aimed at retail traders.

Back on January 13 of this year, CME Group Inc.—the parent company of COMEX, the leading U.S. exchange for gold and silver futures—launched a new one-ounce gold futures contract, which I covered at the time. The contract was introduced following gold’s 32% rally (which has since climbed even higher), with the goal of lowering the barrier to entry for retail investors and traders interested in gaining exposure to gold.

Now, five months later, I decided to follow up and assess how the contract is performing—specifically, whether it’s gaining traction or struggling to catch on. I analyze several key metrics (both in contracts and notional dollar terms), including average daily trading volume, total volume traded since launch, and current open interest, and I compare these figures to CME Group’s two main legacy contracts: the full-sized 100-ounce contract and the 10-ounce Micro Gold contract.

The chart below shows the new 1 oz COMEX gold futures contract, which trades under the symbol 1OZ1! on the popular charting platform TradingView. At first glance, the contract appears to be trading in an orderly and fluid manner—unlike the choppy, inconsistent behavior often seen in newly launched or unsuccessful financial products. That’s an encouraging sign and likely reflects not only the current surge of interest in gold but also the support provided by the deep liquidity in the larger 100 oz and 10 oz gold futures contracts, which facilitates effective arbitrage across all three instruments.

Since its launch on Monday, January 13, the new 1 oz gold futures contract has averaged 3,972 contracts per day in trading volume—equivalent to approximately $12.26 million in notional gold value. Notably, there have been recent one-day spikes as high as 12,680 contracts ($42.35 million) and even 16,250 contracts ($55.9 million), indicating that the contract is capable of handling periods of significantly higher activity. For a newly introduced financial product, this is a respectable level of volume and liquidity—more than sufficient for most retail investors. Naturally, large institutional traders continue to favor the highly liquid flagship 100 oz contract, which better suits their scale.

To compare the trading volume, open interest, and overall liquidity of the three main COMEX gold futures contracts, I’ve put together the table below. As you can see, the new 1 oz contract—averaging $12.26 million in notional gold value traded daily—is dwarfed by the massive $65.82 billion daily volume of the full-size 100 oz contract and even by the 10 oz Micro contract, which averages $6.85 billion per day. I’ve also included other key metrics such as total volume traded since January 13 and current open interest—the total number of outstanding futures contracts that have not yet been settled, exercised, or delivered.