Gold completed 2024 with a very serious increase. It is also going very enthusiastically in 2025. There is great physical movement in gold right now. When I say movement, I really mean physical movement. They are smuggling gold from London to New York with all their might. Today, I will try to explain to you why tons of gold are being transported from London to New York, even private passenger planes can be used for this, and what kind of security risks are being taken. President Trump has stirred up the whole world since he was elected. The gold market is one of the places he stirred up. The reason for this is the customs duties he imposed. For this reason, tons of gold are currently being transported from London to America every day. Now let's take a look at the details of this interesting story together.

First, the background of the subject, maybe those of you who know, London has been known as the epicenter of gold trade for centuries. Physical gold is stored in London. New York, on the other hand, is home to the Comex gold exchange, which is the center of futures and financial contracts. Normally, the prices between these two markets are very close to each other. However, since the day President Trump planned to impose tariffs on Europe, there has been such serious confusion in America. That is why people want to flee to a safe haven. This is also driving gold prices upwards. In particular, while the price of an ounce of gold in America has reached $2,909 in New York, there is a price difference of around $20 with London. This is an unprecedented window of opportunity for both those who want to do arbitrage, that is, those who want to buy cheaply there and sell expensively here, and for those who have other concerns.

So where does this difference come from? As I said earlier, the uncertainty created by Trump's trade policies brings this difference. Since investors see gold as a safe haven, they want to bring it back to New York. Gold is in abundant supply in London, but demand is concentrated in New York. Banks normally do not bring physical gold from London to New York, they balance positions with derivative products such as futures and options. However, when the price gap opens, they want to move physical gold and gain a more advantageous position. Let me give you an example, JP Morgan, HSBC and other large institutions are trying to move their London gold stocks to New York and sell them at a high price or deliver physical gold against futures contracts. In this way, if they are in a short position, they want to cover the loss or try to make additional profit from the arbitrage of the difference.

So how does this transportation happen? It is done by planes and it is quite difficult, in other words, it is not an easy job as it seems. First, there is a process before transportation. First, the bars need to be cast in special formats. Because Comex contracts only accept gold in certain sizes. For this reason, the bars are first transported to Switzerland, to refineries and casting centers there. They are recast there and then shipped to America by plane. There is also gold in the cargo compartments of commercial planes departing from London airports. They transport them with great security measures. But thieves may soon be interested in them, and despite the very high insurance costs, this method still makes economic sense to people.

This situation has also created another result. Those who want to withdraw gold from the Bank of England's vaults form long lines. Some bankers are applying to speed up the process, but the Central Bank says everyone should wait their turn. You have gold there, you can't get it in the vault, and you are the central bank. Players need this gold especially to get out of their short positions quickly. Otherwise, their losses can grow and they are in a difficult situation. On the one hand, since the interest rates for borrowing gold have skyrocketed, panic is growing. Maybe this is also one of the factors that are rapidly increasing gold prices in the markets.

In the meantime, there are other rumors. For example, I read a few tweets that the United States will bring the American dollar back to the gold standard. Maybe some of you know, until the 1970s, there was gold behind the American dollar, stored in American vaults. Then they abandoned that standard. Right now, the only thing behind the dollar is the American army and the trust in the American economic system. Rumors are spreading that Trump is trying to bring this back. On the other hand, there is information that America will revalue the gold it keeps in its treasury. In the US accounting system, gold is currently shown at a cost of 40 dollars in its treasury. Today's price is approaching $3000. There is a matter of balancing the treasury's balance sheet a bit with such an update. There are rumors about this.

On the one hand, we know that China is making serious gold purchases. All central banks are charging for gold. Along with all this, when such a movement starts in physical gold, things get chaotic. This also pushes the prices up. Of course, not everyone buys gold for speculation, some are producers. Producers also need gold, especially when it is used as a conductor. Industrialists in this field have been trying to cope with cost increases recently and are having a hard time. In the derivatives markets, large banks see serious opportunities, but if they cannot solve the logistics problems, their losses may increase, especially due to short positions.

In short, the gold price difference between London and New York shows us how sensitive global trade policies are. Customs tariffs on aluminum, iron and some other products can shake even gold like this. Banks, investors and even governments can turn even a small price difference into profit or loss. That is why the movement increases a lot. So will this situation continue, will this difference continue between prices? Analysts think that demand for gold may remain high as long as fears of customs duties continue. Because uncertainty is gold's favorite environment. This shows that the flow of gold from London to America may continue for a while longer, and that planes will continue to carry gold in the Atlantic. And as you know, China also has a gold exchange. Gold is already moving there right now. Let me tell you, there may be a lot of gold in the luggage of the plane you board these days.