Tokenized Gold: PAXG vs XAUT vs Gold Perpetuals — Premiums, Depth and 24/7 Trading

Gold now trades on crypto exchanges in two forms: tokens backed by physical bullion (PAXG, XAUT) on spot markets, and perpetual futures on the gold price. Both run 24/7 — including the weekend, when COMEX is closed.

Two kinds of crypto gold

• PAXG and XAUT: each token represents one troy ounce of physical gold held by the issuer. You own a redeemable claim.
• Gold perpetuals (XAU): a futures contract on the gold price with stablecoin margin. You own exposure, not metal.

Premiums

Tokens usually trade slightly above the spot gold price — a fee for convenience, custody and 24/7 access. On 22 October 2026, PAXG on Binance was about 0.3% above the gold index and XAUT about 0.1% above. Perpetuals hug the index more tightly because funding pulls them back to it.

Where the liquidity is

In our snapshot gold perpetuals across 12 exchanges held roughly $23–30 million per side within 0.1% of the price, against about $2.4 million for PAXG and XAUT combined on 14 spot venues. The perp market is where large gold orders move the price; the token market is where coins change hands for holding.

The weekend effect

When COMEX closes on Friday, the index stops moving but crypto gold keeps trading on its own supply and demand. Weekend moves in perps and tokens often foreshadow — and sometimes overshoot — the Monday open. Watching both the perp book and the token book shows whether a weekend move has real depth behind it.

How we combine them

AggPro treats one token as one ounce: PAXG and XAUT books from every spot venue form one gold spot book, gold perpetuals from every derivatives venue form the perp book, and quotes too far from the rest are excluded automatically. Switch between them with the same spot/perp toggle as for crypto.