Entering mid-May 2026, the global precious metals market is showing significant divergence. According to Gate platform data, silver (XAG) reached a 24-hour high of $76.98 and is currently trading at $75.01. Gold (XAUT) hit a 24-hour high of $4,552.50 and is now at $4,528.10, with prices pulling back slightly from their peaks.
This round of precious metals volatility is not an isolated event. Around the May Day holiday, gold prices plunged nearly $100, while silver experienced a rollercoaster ride—surging to nearly $90 earlier this week before giving back almost all its gains, with a 24-hour drop exceeding 6% at one point. Analysts point to cooling expectations for Fed rate cuts, a stronger US dollar, and concentrated profit-taking as the main triggers for this correction. Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East remain deadlocked, and persistently higher-than-expected US inflation data have further reinforced market expectations that the Fed will maintain higher interest rates.
Metal Contract Open Interest Remains Strong, Gate Holds Top-Tier Industry Position
Amidst intense market volatility, Gate’s metal contract open interest has demonstrated remarkable resilience. CoinGlass data shows that Gate’s metal contract open interest continues to rank among the industry’s leaders. Specifically, silver (XAG) 24-hour contract open interest stands at approximately $123 million, while gold (XAUT) 24-hour contract open interest is about $150 million. As risk-averse sentiment rises, trading activity in metals continues to heat up, further driving growth in platform open interest.
From a broader contract ecosystem perspective, DefiLlama data indicates that Gate’s 24-hour contract open interest has reached around $11.968 billion, placing it among the top three centralized exchanges. This data underscores Gate’s leading position in the global derivatives market. The transparency report released in January 2026 revealed that Gate’s market share in derivatives rose to 11%, making it one of the fastest-growing centralized trading platforms during that period. CryptoRank also named Gate as the platform with the fastest contract trading volume growth in 2025.
Gate Metals Zone: Pioneering 24/7 Precious Metals Perpetual Contract Trading
On January 14, 2026, Gate officially launched its "Precious Metals Zone," debuting USDT-margined perpetual contracts for XAU (gold) and XAG (silver). The platform supports up to 50x leverage and offers uninterrupted 24/7 trading. By leveraging crypto contract mechanisms, this initiative brings traditional precious metal assets into a round-the-clock trading environment, providing investors with more flexible price discovery, risk management, and cross-market allocation options.
For contract pricing, Gate’s precious metals perpetual contracts use composite price indices sourced from multiple authoritative precious metals markets as the contract benchmark. This approach effectively reduces the impact of abnormal price swings in any single market, ensuring a rational linkage between contract prices and global spot markets. The Gate Metals Zone not only covers gold and silver but is also expanding to include platinum, palladium, copper, aluminum, nickel, lead, and other metals, gradually building a comprehensive trading ecosystem encompassing both precious and industrial metals.
From the perspective of traditional trading systems, conventional precious metals trading is constrained by fixed opening and closing times of major global exchanges. When significant macro events occur outside mainstream trading hours, investors are often unable to respond immediately. Gate’s launch of perpetual precious metals contracts fundamentally changes this structural limitation—users can now adjust their positions instantly during interest rate decisions, geopolitical events, or key economic data releases, without waiting for markets to reopen.
Comprehensive TradFi Product Line Upgrade: One-Stop Trading for Precious Metals and Global Macro Assets
The core logic behind Gate TradFi is to create an integrated multi-asset trading system. At the start of 2026, Gate completed a major upgrade to its TradFi (traditional finance) product suite, offering full coverage across both mobile and web platforms. Users can now trade stock tokens, forex, precious metals, indices, and commodity CFDs all within a single platform, significantly reducing the operational friction of cross-market allocation.
On January 27, 2026, Gate announced the mass launch of USDT-settled perpetual contracts linked to traditional assets, covering metals, stock indices, forex, and crude oil. This means traders can now use a single USDT margin to trade both cryptocurrencies and global macro assets on one platform, greatly facilitating cross-market asset allocation and risk hedging. By the end of January 2026, cumulative trading volume for Gate TradFi since launch had surpassed $20 billion.
Recently, Gate has accelerated the rollout of new products in the stock contracts segment. On May 15, the Gate Stock Contracts Zone launched live trading for the CBRS (Cerebras) perpetual contract, supporting both long and short positions with 1–20x leverage, further enriching the range of AI chip sector trading instruments. Since the beginning of 2026, Gate has added over 30 new perpetual contracts for stocks and ETFs, covering tech giants, aerospace and defense leaders, consumer goods titans, and core ETFs across multiple sectors.
Commodities Segment Gains Momentum: Crude Oil Contracts Lead the Market
Beyond precious metals, Gate is also excelling in the commodities segment. According to CoinGlass data, Brent crude oil (XBR) is currently trading at $102.78, up 0.68% in 24 hours; WTI crude oil (XTI) is at $98.45, up 1.33% in 24 hours. Gate’s XBR contract recorded a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $5.45 million, topping the global rankings, while the XTI/USDT trading pair saw a 24-hour volume of about $3.4613 million, maintaining strong market attention. This highlights Gate’s liquidity and product advantages in the crude oil derivatives market.
Gate Contracts has taken the lead in crude oil, pioneering the commodities contract segment with perpetual contracts for XBRUSDT (Brent crude) and WTIUSDT (WTI crude). The platform offers 24/7 trading, USDT settlement, and up to 100x leverage, empowering users to execute cross-market asset allocation and strategic positioning amid volatile market conditions.
Conclusion
Overall, Gate is advancing the construction of its TradFi multi-asset trading system at an unprecedented pace. From precious metals to stock indices, from forex to commodities, Gate Contracts has built a comprehensive product matrix covering the world’s core macro assets. In the metals contract space, Gate’s pioneering 24/7 trading mechanism enables traditional safe-haven assets like gold and silver to transcend time and geographic barriers. In the TradFi segment, the USDT-margined multi-asset trading system significantly lowers the operational threshold and friction costs for cross-market allocation.
As global macro uncertainty continues to intensify, with ongoing shifts in Fed policy expectations and persistent Middle East geopolitical risks, the allocation value of metals and TradFi assets will remain prominent. Backed by industry-leading liquidity depth, robust risk management systems, and continuous product innovation, Gate is committed to building a truly one-stop multi-asset trading platform for users worldwide—blurring the boundaries between traditional finance and the crypto world, making them more seamless and accessible than ever before.
