I recently looked at the gold price trend, and it really is a bit crazy. From 2025 to now, gold has risen by nearly 65%, marking the strongest annual performance since 1979. Earlier this year, gold prices even surged to a high of $5,600 per ounce, and they now remain stable above $5,000, with the entire market entering a new normal of high gold prices.

I also checked Malaysia’s local quotes. 999 fine gold is now approaching a historic high of around 750 to 800 Malaysian ringgit per gram, which is a big jump compared with the start of this week. The price of 916 gold (22K) is also continuing to rise, and this kind of volatility is indeed rare. In the gold shops now, they’ve even switched to a strategy of quoting prices every half day or posting live prices in real time, because gold prices move too fast for traditional daily settlement prices to keep up.

Market sentiment is especially sensitive right now, mainly to two directions. One is the geopolitical situation: if there is a breakthrough in the indirect negotiations between the US and Iran, gold prices may pull back; but if military build-ups continue to escalate, gold prices will likely keep rising. The other is US labor market data. In early March, the postponed non-farm report will be released, which affects whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in June.

From a trading perspective, if you want to trade international spot gold XAUUSD, the trading time is basically nearly 24 hours from Monday to Friday. Under daylight saving time, next Monday at 7:00 a.m. is when the Sydney market opens, and on Saturday at 6:00 a.m. is when the New York market closes. Each morning from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. there is a one-hour settlement break and trading pause. If you trade local gold futures contracts on the Malaysian exchange, then it follows local time: the main trading hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and the most active after-hours session is from 9:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. the next day, connecting with the fluctuations in the New York market. During this period, there are usually more noticeable market movements.