Explanations of "Gold" investment-related terms A to Z

The strike price (or exercise price) of an option is the fixed price at which the owner of the option can buy (in the case of a call option) or sell (in the case of a put option) the underlying security or commodity. The strike price is mostly used to describe stock, index or commodity options (stock strike price, S&P 500 strike price, gold strike price etc.). Listed options have clearly defined rules for strike prices, contract sizes and expiration dates. In short, upon expiration, call options are worth the difference between the price of the underlying security and the strike price (the same is the case with put options, only this time you subtract the current price from the strike price).

The summer doldrums is the silent period of trading during the summer, when traders are on mostly on vacation. For gold & silver investors, this creates both: threats and opportunities.

Support level is a key concept in Technical Analysis that is very helpful in determining the right moment to buy in an uptrend or to cover short positions in a downtrend. In other words, if gold is declining and it's moving toward a price level at which it reversed several times in the past, we can say that it's gold support level.

The Swiss National Bank, based in Berne and Zurich, conducts Switzerland’s monetary policy as an independent central bank. It is also responsible for issuing Swiss franc banknotes. The majority of SNB’s shares belong to cantons and banks of cantons, and the smaller remainder is in the possession of private individuals. The primary goal of the SNB is to ensure price stability, which is defined as a rise in consumer prices of less than 2 percent per year. The SNB’s supreme managing and executive body is the Governing Board. It is in particular responsible for the monetary policy, asset investment strategy and international monetary cooperation.

Small but wealthy. One of the most developed countries in the world, with the eighth-highest GDP per capita. The country of low taxes, banks, chocolate, watches, Alps and direct democracy. Switzerland. What are its links with the gold market?

Tail risk it is the risk of an asset or portfolio of assets moving more than three standard deviations from its current price. Technically, tail risks arise when the possibility that an investment will move more than three standard deviations from the mean is greater than what is shown by a normal distribution (see the chart below). To simplify, tail risks are very unlikely events which entail very serious consequences.

June 19th, 2013. Day like any other day. It was supposed to be a regular press conference and nobody, including Ben Bernanke, then the Fed Chair, expected that his boring statement on monetary policy would cause the market turmoil. Let’s look the chart below. As one can see, the U.S. 10-year bond yields surge, while the greenback appreciated strongly.

The Taylor rule is a proposed formula for how central banks should alter interest rates in response to changes in macroeconomic variables.

Technical analysis is the analysis of financial markets from the point of view of past data. In other words, technical analysis aims to prescribe in which direction the price of a given asset is more likely to move given the way this asset trades now and has traded in the past.

It’s huge. And it disturbs many people, in particular President Donald Trump. The trade deficit with China. In 2018, it reached $419 billion. Actually, the U.S. runs trade deficit not only with China. As the chart below shows, America’s trade balance is negative, which denotes a trade deficit, with the rest of the world. And this imbalance has been deepening since 1992.

It starts innocently. You just try to protect domestic industry and make your nation great again. So you impose a little tariff, just to create a level playing field with other countries. But before you know it, these other countries target your exports with retaliatory tariffs and you are in the middle of trade wars.

Trend is the general direction – up, down or sideways – in which the price of an asset is heading for a prolonged period of time.