Earning Synthetic Interest With Gold

In a Seeking Alpha article, Brad Zigler points out a way to earn a return with gold. The trouble is, it requires enough gold to write a futures contract on it. [400 oz. for a standard one.] Simply sell the gold forward, with a locked-in price thanks to the futures contract, and deliver it when the futures contract is due. If the price differential between spot and the relevant futures price is greater than storage costs over the life of the contract, then you've gotten a return for holding the gold.

Of course, it requires 400 oz. to play, unless a 100-oz mini-futures contract is used.