The crypto industry took an alarmingly long time to allow retail traders to speculate on spot precious metals markets.
By the time many exchanges had listed gold and other monetary metals using traditional finance products like futures and contracts for difference (CFDs), a substantial portion of the gains from those commodities had already come and gone.
Undeterred, crypto exchanges opened up these markets for customers to buy 12-month highs and hope for even higher highs.
Indeed, after gold had rallied 70% and silver had rallied 155% over the prior 12 months, Binance decided to list traditional finance perpetual contracts for these assets.
BitGet waited that same length of time, allowing those same gains to pass, before they listed gold and silver contracts for retail trading.
Crypto waits a year to buy gold at an all-time high
After gold had rallied 80%, OKX decided to advertise its tokenized gold products.
Similarly, MEXC decided to list perpetual futures for gold and silver after they’d climbed 76% and 207% respectively.
Gate also risked missing the boat, launching its precious metals section and listing leveraged perpetual futures for gold and silver after gold had rallied 74% and silver had rallied 193%.
The delay even extended to other precious metals at Coinbase. Indeed, after copper had rallied 40% and platinum had rallied 175% over the previous 12 months, the exchange decided to list them for futures trading.
Read more: Crypto gold promoters claim 80% APR amid speculative mania
As crypto exchange customers held bitcoin in 2025 and lost 6% across the calendar year, several waited for opportunities to switch into other stores of value like precious metals.
Unfortunately, many crypto exchanges waited until the last few weeks to open up those markets to their customers — far after the rally had already rewarded traditional finance.