Platinum is used in automotive emissions catalysts, chemical processes and jewelry. This chart tracks a perpetual contract referencing platinum, not a spot or dated futures price. Funding payments and demand can affect its value.
History and development
Platinum belongs to both precious-metal and industrial markets through jewelry and catalytic applications. Standardized futures specify the metal and delivery conditions so participants can trade on a common basis.
New York platinum futures began on December 3, 1956, before COMEX gold futures. Their history is part of the development of platinum-group-metal risk markets. This chart instead follows a perpetual contract: it has no expiry and is not the historical deliverable future itself.
References: CME: first trade dates
Comparing charts on this board
Pair platinum with palladium and gold to distinguish industrial platinum-group themes from gold. Joint platinum-palladium moves and isolated reactions invite different supply and usage investigations.
A rising platinum/palladium ratio indicates platinum leadership. Relative returns show that direction; use it to organize news about end uses and substitution between metals.
Related charts: Palladium · Gold
Official references: WPIC: platinum uses