The term "offshore gold" commonly refers to gold products traded under the international market pricing system. London Gold is typically quoted in US dollars per troy ounce, while the domestic gold market mostly uses Renminbi per gram.
Therefore, when international gold is quoted above 4300 and domestic gold above 900, the figures appear vastly different. You first need to unify the currency and weight units. Without unit conversion, comparing the two prices is meaningless.
How to Read London Gold Quotes
The 100-ounce London Gold contract of the Hong Kong Gold Exchange is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce, with a base trading unit of 100 troy ounces and a minimum price fluctuation of $0.01 per ounce.
Lucky Gold’s London Gold also adopts 100 ounces as the contract size for one lot. For example, a market quote of 4300.00 means approximately 4300 US dollars per troy ounce of gold, not 4300 US dollars per gram. Once this concept is clear, subsequent conversion becomes straightforward.
Why Domestic Gold Is Often Quoted in RMB per Gram
Take Au99.99 from the Shanghai Gold Exchange as an example. Its quotation unit is Renminbi per gram, the trading unit is 10 grams per lot, and it adopts physical spot trading.
In other words, international London Gold and domestic Au99.99 differ starting from their quotation units. One is quoted in USD per troy ounce, the other in RMB per gram.
To roughly compare international quotes with RMB gold prices, both exchange rate and weight conversion must be calculated. One troy ounce equals 31.1034768 grams.
Conversion formula: International gold price in USD × USD/CNY exchange rate ÷ 31.1034768 This yields a theoretical converted value in RMB per gram.
Why Prices May Still Differ Even After Unit Conversion
Units are only one factor. The specific product is also affected by trading venue, trading hours, market supply and demand, exchange rates, liquidity and trading mechanisms.
London Gold is a common product in the international over-the-counter precious metals market, and Lucky Gold conducts trading under a margin system.
Au99.99 on the Shanghai Gold Exchange uses full-payment physical spot trading. The buyer’s full payment is frozen upon quoting, and gold ownership transfers in real time once the trade is executed.
Given different product mechanisms, discrepancies in actual transaction prices are normal.
Converting the international gold price into RMB per gram is suitable for observing general price correlations. When trading a specific product, always refer to the real-time quote of its respective market.
Trading Hours Differ Between Offshore Gold and Domestic Gold
London Gold covers major trading sessions across Asia, Europe and America with long weekday trading hours.
For Lucky Gold, daylight saving trading runs from 06:05 on Monday to 04:55 on Saturday with a daily settlement break. The schedule shifts one hour later for standard time.
The current trading sessions for SGE Au99.99 are daytime from 09:00 to 15:30, and night session from 20:00 to 02:30 the next day.
This creates a practical scenario: The international market may still be open while a domestic trading session has closed. When the domestic market reopens, price movements from overseas trading hours will be reflected in domestic quotes.
Thus the two markets cannot be expected to maintain identical price movements every minute.
Does Offshore Gold Always Refer to London Gold?
In daily Chinese searches, when people mention "offshore gold", they usually mean London Gold or international spot gold. However, the term itself is colloquial.
Before trading, it is best to check the product name, contract size, quote currency and trading rules directly. Relying merely on the phrase "offshore gold" can easily lead you to conflate different products.
London Gold offered by Lucky Gold is denominated in US dollars, with 100 ounces per lot and a minimum trade size of 0.01 lot. When users wish to compare it with domestic gold, convert USD per troy ounce to RMB per gram first, then examine the differences in product mechanisms.
This approach is far more reliable than simply comparing raw figures.
Risk Warning: Different gold products feature different trading methods, capital requirements and risks. Before participating in leveraged London Gold trading, please learn about contract specifications, margin, spread, holding charges and forced liquidation rules.