Comex gold futures traded at about seven times the normal rate in the hours of the final decision, according to ICBC Standard Bank. “It was just pandemonium. It was absolutely insane,” said Peter Hug, global trading director at Kitco Metals. “It was unbelievable, almost to the point of being funny.”
The initial surge, combined with massive moves in currencies and stocks, was unlike anything Mr. Hug had ever seen. Gold prices moved faster than traders could keep up, he said.
“You couldn’t even push a button” without gold prices moving, he said. “I was sitting here with my jaw open.”
The British exit, or “Brexit,” also sparked a rush of buying in physical gold.
London-based gold brokerage Sharps Pixley Ltd. checked their stocks before Friday to prepare for a potential Brexit, flying in products from Germany and Switzerland. However, the initial demand wiped out their stores of gold kilo bars and coins, to the surprise of chief executive Ross Norman.