Precious metals typically include gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, traded in physical form, futures, ETFs, or through spot markets.

They are often used as a hedge against inflation, currency fluctuations, economic uncertainty, and to diversify investment portfolios.

Prices are affected by supply and demand, interest rates, inflation, geopolitical events, currency strength (especially the US dollar), and industrial usage.

Trading can be done through physical bullion, mining stocks, futures and options, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or over-the-counter (OTC) markets.

Key risks include price volatility, liquidity constraints, counterparty risk, storage and insurance costs, and regulatory or compliance requirements.