Platinum Futures

In 1956, the New York Mercantile Exchange introduced platinum futures as a way to diversify from its exclusively agricultural offerings. While futures offered a standard and liquid outlet, the highly leveraged nature of futures trading meant that individual investors faced a high risk of losing a large share of their investment due to small changes in the price of the underlying commodity. As a consequence, most platinum futures contracts are today held by industrial hedgers or major speculators.