Yes, London has historically been a major center for setting gold prices.
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London Bullion Market Association (LBMA): Its gold price benchmark is established twice daily through an electronic auction involving participating banks and market participants.
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Major banks and traders: Buy and sell gold, influencing prices through supply and demand.
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COMEX in New York: Gold futures trading there also heavily influences the worldwide gold price.
Bottom line: No single person sets gold’s price. It’s determined by trading in global markets, with London and New York playing major roles.
My Comment re part: Its gold price benchmark is established twice daily through an electronic auction. Auctions of what? Paper or physical.
Both—but the London auction is primarily a benchmark for physical gold.
The LBMA Gold Price auction is based on bids and offers for gold, with participants settling transactions in unallocated gold accounts.
That means the auction doesn’t require bars to physically change hands at that moment.
So it’s not simply a paper-gold auction—but settlement usually involves account transfers, not moving physical bars for every trade.
Me: so its mostly paper bets? Be brief.
Not exactly. The London auction is for physically settled gold, but much of the wider gold market involves paper contracts, futures, and unallocated accounts.
So, yes, paper trading is a major influence on gold prices, even though physical gold is also traded.