Described is a low-loss induction coil for heating and/or melting metallic materials, the coil having windings formed by lengths of hollow tubing carrying a fluid coolant. In the central zone of the induction coil, the current is carried by hollow conductors made of copper which at the same time form the hollow tubing. Fitted at least in the windings at one end of the coil is a current-carrying element in the form of at least one braid whose individual conductors are insulated from each other, while remaining windings are designed as hollow conductors connected to the current-carrying element. The use of braids as the current carrier leads, at the end of the coil, to a reduction in eddy-current losses caused by transverse magnetic fields, while the use of hollow conductors in the rest of the coil results in the mean distance between the current flux and the metallic material being heated being kept at the minimum and losses due to this distance thus kept low.