In traditional financial markets, gold and silver have long been favored for their safe-haven qualities. Today, blockchain technology is revolutionizing precious metals investing through the introduction of precious metals contracts. By tokenizing physical gold and silver, these assets become digital instruments that can be traded 24/7. When combined with derivatives such as leverage and perpetual contracts, this approach offers investors unprecedented flexibility and efficiency.
As a leading crypto asset trading platform, Gate is committed to expanding the boundaries of asset classes. The platform now offers a range of precious metals contract products, including XAUT (Tether Gold) and SLVON (Ondo Tokenized Silver).
What Are Precious Metals Contracts?
At their core, precious metals contracts tokenize the ownership or income rights of physical precious metals like gold and silver. Each token corresponds to a specific amount of physical metal held by a custodian, with its price closely pegged to the spot price of the underlying metal.
Building on this foundation, trading platforms launch related derivatives such as perpetual contracts. These contracts have no expiration date and allow investors to open positions based on their market outlook, using leverage to amplify returns (and, correspondingly, risk). This enables efficient participation in precious metals market movements and supports a wide range of trading strategies—all without the need to physically hold the metals.
Core Precious Metals Contract Products on Gate
Gate offers users a diverse selection of precious metals contracts, primarily focused on gold and silver.
1. Tokenized Gold: XAUT (Tether Gold)
XAUT is a gold-backed stablecoin issued by Tether. Each XAUT token is backed by one troy ounce of London Good Delivery gold. Gate has launched XAUT perpetual contracts, supporting leverage up to 50x. This provides investors seeking gold exposure with a highly flexible trading tool.
2. Tokenized Silver: SLVON (Ondo Tokenized Silver)
SLVON is the blockchain tokenized version of the iShares Silver Trust (SLV), granting holders economic rights similar to those of SLV. Gate was the first to launch SLVON perpetual contracts at the end of December 2025, supporting leverage from 1x to 20x, and simultaneously rolled out Gate Perp DEX. This launch coincided with rising market interest in tokenized real-world assets (RWA).
Market Performance and Data Insights
Recent Market Overview: XAUT
According to Gate market data, as of December 31, 2025, XAUT was trading at approximately $4,536.1, with a market cap of about $2.266 billion. Recently, its price has fluctuated between $4,400 and $4,550, demonstrating notable resilience. Analysts believe its short-term trend may be influenced by two key technical levels: $4,400 (support) and $4,550 (resistance).
Recent Market Momentum: SLVON
As a relatively new asset, SLVON has quickly attracted market attention. Data shows that in the month ending December 31, 2025, SLVON’s market cap surged over 155%, nearing $18 million. This reflects strong investor interest in silver, which possesses both industrial and financial attributes, especially during periods of market volatility.
How to Trade Precious Metals Contracts on Gate?
Trading precious metals contracts on Gate is straightforward:
- Registration & Deposit: Complete registration and identity verification on the Gate website, then deposit USDT into your contract account as margin.
- Select Contract: In the "Contract Trading" section of the platform, locate your desired contract (such as XAUT/USDT or SLVON/USDT).
- Set Orders: Decide whether to go long (bullish) or short (bearish), enter your price and quantity, and set your preferred leverage based on risk tolerance (up to 50x for XAUT, up to 20x for SLVON).
- Risk Management: Always set stop-loss and take-profit orders before opening a position—this is a crucial step for managing risk.
- Monitor & Close: After opening a position, you can close it manually at any time based on market movements, or wait for stop-loss/take-profit orders to trigger automatically.
Conclusion: The Value and Outlook of Precious Metals Contracts
Precious metals contracts—especially those offered by major platforms like Gate—are becoming a vital bridge between traditional finance and the digital asset world. They retain the inherent safe-haven properties of gold and silver while adding the benefits of divisibility, high liquidity, and programmability through digitalization.
For investors, this means lower barriers to entry, greater efficiency in asset allocation, and the ability to use contract tools for hedging risk or enhancing returns. As the tokenization wave of real-world assets (RWA) continues to build, precious metals contracts are poised to attract more traditional capital, with market depth and product diversity expected to keep expanding.
If you’re interested in macroeconomic hedging, diversified asset allocation, or innovative financial instruments, consider exploring and experiencing precious metals contract trading on Gate.
