Platinum

On an ordinary day over the last month of trading, PLAT has moved about 2.50%, making it about as volatile as most of the metals Kinzan tracks (their median is 2.25%).

Measured against its own habit, today is a +0.8σ day: the kind of session it has most weeks.

It sits near the top of its 24-hour range of 1,700.5–1,735.3, measured on hourly closes.

The New York block (13:00–22:00 UTC) did most of the work — roughly 61% of the movement over the last 24 hours.

Over the last 60 sessions of daily returns, it has moved most closely with PALL (+0.80, a very strong relationship), and most inversely to USD/THB (−0.65).

Market read: Platinum is hitting new highs, showing strong momentum as it closes out the New York session.

What it is

Platinum is one of the scarcest metals mined at scale, and its supply is extraordinarily concentrated: South Africa’s Bushveld Complex accounts for the large majority of mine output, with Russia a distant second. The metal is dense, highly resistant to corrosion and an excellent catalyst, which is where most of its demand comes from. This page tracks the front NYMEX platinum future, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce, with a standard contract size of 50 ounces.

What drives it

The car industry is the largest single consumer, using platinum in catalytic converters for diesel and, to a growing extent, petrol engines. That makes the metal sensitive to vehicle production, emissions regulation and the pace of electrification — battery-electric cars need no exhaust catalyst at all. Substitution between platinum and its sister metal palladium, driven by their relative prices, has shifted demand back and forth over the decades. Jewellery demand, historically centred on China and Japan, and investment through bars and ETFs make up much of the rest, along with industrial uses in glass, chemicals and petroleum refining. On the supply side, power shortages, labour disputes and mine safety stoppages in South Africa can tighten the market quickly, and a large share of output comes as a by-product of mining other platinum-group metals.

How it trades through the day

Platinum futures trade on the same near-continuous electronic schedule as other CME metals, but volume is far lower, so price action in the Asia block (22:00–07:00 UTC) can be patchy. London (07:00–13:00 UTC) is home to the physical market and its twice-daily price benchmarks. The New York block (13:00–22:00 UTC) carries most of the futures volume.

What it tends to move with

Platinum has historically moved in the same direction as gold and silver more often than not, but with a heavier influence from the industrial cycle, which gives it a looser, sometimes positive link to copper and to equity markets such as the DAX 40, home to major carmakers. A weaker US Dollar Index tends to support it, as with other dollar-priced metals.