London Bias

The London bias is a statistical regularity showing that gold prices usually decline during London trading hours, especially around the PM Fix, whilst they rise during Asian trading hours. Another version of the idea behind the London bias is that there is a tendency for the London PM gold fix to be lower than the London AM gold fix.

The London bias is considered by some people as the alleged evidence of bullion banks manipulating the gold market. We do not deny that such behavior exists, but investors should be aware that certain price patterns as such do not constitute evidence of manipulation. There are many anomalies in the financial markets (like the January effect), which are not necessarily caused by manipulation. Moreover, during London trading hours the New York markets open and some of the most important U.S. economic data is released at this time, which may cause a strong reaction in the markets. Another problem is that exactly the same data could be used to prove long-term upward manipulation of the gold price, if we assume that the London PM Fix, not the London AM Fix, is the right price (since the assumption underlying the claim that the London Bias shows relentless downward manipulation is that the London AM Fix is the right price).

We encourage you to learn more about gold – not only whether it is manipulated, but also how to successfully use gold as an investment and how to profitably trade it. A great way to start is to sign up for our gold newsletter today. It's free and if you don't like it, you can easily unsubscribe.