GC Futures (Gold): Tick Value, Expiries, Order Flow

GC contract specifications

The contract unit is 100 troy ounces, quoted in dollars and cents per troy ounce. The minimum fluctuation is $0.10 per troy ounce, so one tick is worth $10 per contract and a one-dollar move is $100. Open contracts are settled by delivery during the delivery month. Senzoukria's contract table holds the same tick and multiplier on the COMEX venue code.

GC expiry: first notice day and last trading day

No trades are made after the third-to-last business day of the delivery month. Delivery can take place on any business day of that month, so notices begin on first notice day, the last business day of the previous month.

Senzoukria's picker does not wait for either date. Its expiry engine lists a metal contract only until the third-to-last business day of the month before delivery, two business days ahead of first notice day, so that a deliverable contract is never proposed as the default. On September 25, 2026 the picker already defaults to GCZ6 and still lists GCV6 with an "exp" badge until September 28, 2026, the last day its engine gives that contract. For GCZ6, the default moves to the next listed month on November 22, 2026 (4 calendar days before November 26, 2026), and GCZ6 stays selectable with its badge until that date. The exchange calendar also lists other months (F, H, K, N, U, X); Senzoukria's catalogue uses G, J, M, Q, V, Z to choose its default contract.

GC tick value and P&L arithmetic

• One tick = $0.10 × 100 = $10.
• 10 ticks ($1.00 per troy ounce) = $100 per contract.
• A stop of $5.00 per troy ounce is 50 ticks: $500 per contract, $1,000 on 2 contracts.
• The same $5.00 on MGC is $50 per contract.

Reading GC order flow

With row resolution off, a GC footprint has one row per $0.10 tick. The fixed steps give 2 ticks = 0.2, 4 ticks = 0.4, 8 ticks = 0.8, 16 ticks = 1.6, 32 ticks = 3.2 dollars per troy ounce per row; grouping keeps totals exact but moves the POC from a price to a row.

Gold's tick is ten cents, so ten ticks make one dollar per ounce, and ten is not a power of two: none of Senzoukria's fixed row steps equals exactly $1 per row (8 ticks are $0.80, 16 ticks $1.60). GC and MGC quote the same gold price with the same tick but trade in two separate books; a 100-ounce GC print never appears in the MGC footprint, and depth thresholds chosen for one are meaningless on the other.

Using GC in Senzoukria

• Symbol picker on a Rithmic or Databento CME source: type GC; on September 25, 2026 the listed contract is GCZ6 (December 2026).
• Heatmap and DOM show that contract's book, with COMEX as the venue in the ladder header and prices printed with 1 decimal, the precision of the tick.
• Replay lists GC in the Metals group. In the automatic backtest, set Point value ($) to 100, the dollar value of a one-dollar move; the field defaults to 2.