By Kayla McBride
For centuries, gold has been looked as a commodity and a currency. When considering purchasing gold, it is important to make certain that you know what kind of purchase and investment you are making. Gold just like any commodity is subject to daily price fluctuations.

One of the first questions asked when considering purchasing gold is who controls the price? This question is often asked because gold is presented as being a stable and sound investment in a turbulent economic downturn. Despite its appeal, gold still operates on a market scale and abides by the supply and demand of the companies and organizations that produce it.

Gold is produced in immense quantities, normally. Investors and economists use an analysis format to calculate the value of gold in order to determine the gold market price. Gold is measured typically by the ounce and will vary depending upon multiple economic factors such as GDP rates.

Since 1919, the most well- known way of pricing gold has been to use London gold fixing. London gold fixing is done via a telephone meeting between many different representatives from gold trading firms that are involved in the London gold and silver bullion market. The gold fix is always assigned in United States dollars, Euros or British pound starlings. The current firms that make the decisions on gold market pricing include Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Société Générale Scotia-Mocatta and Barclays.

The London gold market is comprised of a variety of international trading firms and is owned by the Bank of England. London, England is by far the most unrestrained gold trading market operating in cities such as Tokyo and New York City. Market examination is obligatory to distinguish the various types of trends that gold may undergo in the gold market. This inevitably affects the gold market price.

Many investors will study historical trends to see if there is any fluctuating market average that can be taken into consideration when pricing the gold. Market average is determined using a series of data and analyzing them in a certain type of arithmetical system. Many websites have chronological data in the form of graphs and analytical documentation that can aid investors in making decisions as to whether they should acquire gold in their portfolios.

There are many factors that contribute to the gold market price as well and they include stability of US dollar, government policies, international financial rates, manufacturing demands, mining costs, which despite it being one of the more capricious investments one can make, this can certainly affect gold prices; the liquidity factor, which determines how liquid the gold is that is operating in the market and inflation and deflation, which are economic terms that predict the ebb and flow of equity pricing.