Editor’s Note
As gold prices experience significant volatility, major retailers like China Gold and Beijing Caishikou are adjusting their buyback policies. Starting in 2026, they will suspend precious metals repurchases on weekends and public holidays, aligning with the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s trading calendar. This move highlights the challenges jewelers face in managing price risks during off-market periods.
Sharp fluctuations in gold prices have become difficult for gold shops to handle.
China Gold announced that starting from February 7, 2026, it will adjust its precious metals buyback business arrangements. Buyback services will be suspended on Saturdays, Sundays, and statutory holidays, which are non-trading days for the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE). Beijing Caishikou Department Store Co., Ltd. also introduced similar arrangements via its official WeChat account. Simultaneously, to mitigate risks, several banks have proactively cleared out “inactive” clients who have no positions, no inventory, and no outstanding debts.
When explaining the reasons for this adjustment, China Gold mentioned that recent multiple factors have led to significantly increased volatility and sustained uncertainty in precious metals prices. To meet the risk management requirements of the precious metals market and enhance business operational efficiency and customer service levels, the company will adjust the precious metals buyback business rules for all channels under the “China Gold” brand, including offline stores and online channels.
It was found that this adjustment not only limits the buyback time but also strengthens quota management. Even on normal exchange trading days, related buyback services will implement quota controls, including daily cumulative buyback limits per single client and single transaction limits, and require advance appointments. These quotas are not fixed but are dynamically adjusted based on market conditions.
Beijing Caishikou Department Store Co., Ltd. also updated its buyback arrangements, stating that from February 6, it adjusted precious metals buyback rules, suspending buyback services on SGE non-trading days such as Saturdays, Sundays, and statutory holidays, while also reducing the daily gold recycling limit from 200 kilograms to 100 kilograms.
Rapid price increases and heightened volatility lead to a lack of fair price references on non-trading days, making buyback pricing difficult and prone to disputes. At the same time, concentrated redemption waves impose significant funding pressure and operational load on gold shops. This move is also seen as helping to guide investors to view market fluctuations rationally and guard against potential loss risks from price gaps.
Sui Dong expects more gold shops to follow suit in adjusting buyback services, with the overall trend being tightening regulations and strengthening risk control, rather than a complete cancellation. As high volatility in gold prices gradually becomes the norm, the industry faces increasing pressure from rising risk control and operational costs, and similar risk control measures are expected to become more widespread.
First, it aligns with the market price mechanism, as gold prices are based on real-time exchange quotes. On non-trading days, fair market prices cannot be obtained; suspending buybacks can effectively avoid pricing disputes and operational passivity. Second, it controls risk exposure. During periods of sharp price volatility, acquiring physical gold without market price references could lead to significant price gap losses for the buyer if the market price gaps the next day, posing substantial loss risks.
As the Lunar Horse Year Spring Festival approaches, China will usher in a 9-day long holiday. To guard against risks from international market price fluctuations during the long holiday, the Shanghai Gold Exchange issued a notice on February 9 regarding market risk control for the 2026 Spring Festival period. According to the arrangement, the SGE will be closed from February 14 to February 23, with no night trading on February 13, and normal market opening from February 24. Starting from the closing settlement on February 11, the margin ratios and price limit ranges for related contracts will be synchronously increased.
Meanwhile, several banks have proactively cleared out inactive precious metals clients with “no positions, no inventory, and no outstanding debts.” For example, on February 3, Industrial Bank’s “Announcement on Adjusting Trading Channels for Agency SGE Personal Precious Metals Trading Business” stated that, according to business development needs, the bank will close the personal online banking trading channel for agency SGE personal precious metals trading business after February 14, 2026, while counter and mobile banking channels remain open normally.
Industrial Bank is not an isolated case. Since September 2025, at least 11 banks have successively issued adjustment announcements for agency SGE personal precious metals business, mainly involving the suspension or cessation of new position openings and buy transactions for related products.
In December 2025, ICBC strengthened the management of agency personal precious metals trading. For clients with no positions, no inventory, and no outstanding debts but with remaining balances in their margin accounts, the bank began batch transferring the margin account balances to the settlement accounts bound to the business from December 19 and closing the related business functions.
In the same month, China Construction Bank also reminded similar clients to transfer out their margin balances and terminate agreements as soon as possible. China CITIC Bank started cleaning up long-inactive accounts (with only available funds, no positions) for agency SGE personal trading from November 7, 2025.
Furthermore, several banks including Postal Savings Bank of China and Bank of Ningbo have announced the discontinuation of agency SGE personal precious metals business. On December 30, 2025, PSBC announced that its agency SGE personal precious metals business would be discontinued from January 12, 2026. On September 30 of the same year, Bank of Ningbo stated that from October 13, it would stop accepting agency personal client SGE spot physical buy transactions, while sell transactions would not be affected.
In recent years, the banking industry has continuously intensified adjustments to agency SGE personal precious metals trading business, transitioning from early-stage risk warnings and suspending new client account openings to the orderly clearing of existing clients. Xue Hongyan, a special researcher at Sushang Bank, stated that the risks of this business are concentrated in market, compliance, operational, and reputational dimensions, with market risk being the core, as sharp fluctuations in precious metals prices can easily lead to losses for individual investors.