What Is the Spot Price of Gold and Silver, and Who Sets It?

When you look up the price of gold or silver, the number you see is the spot price. It is the price of one troy ounce of pure metal in the big wholesale markets, and it changes all day while those markets are open.

Spot is a useful starting point, but it is not the price you will pay for a coin or bar. Every retail sale adds a premium on top, and every sale back to a dealer usually comes in a little under the price you paid.

This guide explains where spot comes from, why you can't buy at it, what a troy ounce and a karat are, and how to check any dealer's quote with a phone calculator. It doesn't predict prices. Nobody can tell you reliably where gold or silver will go next.

What is the spot price of gold and silver?

The spot price is the market price for metal delivered right away, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. The CFTC and FINRA describe it as "the cash price for immediate delivery of physical metal."

A few things to know about it:

• It is for pure metal. Spot is the value of one troy ounce of gold or silver, not one coin. A coin that holds half an ounce is worth half of spot in metal.
• It is a wholesale price. It reflects trading between banks, refiners and large dealers, in amounts far bigger than a person buys.
• It moves constantly. Prices change minute by minute on weekdays and are mostly still on weekends, when the main markets are closed.

Who sets the spot price?

No single company sets it. The spot price you see comes from two big markets: futures trading in New York and benchmark auctions in London.

COMEX futures (New York). A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell metal at a set price on a future date. The COMEX exchange, run by CME Group, trades gold contracts of 100 troy ounces and silver contracts of 5,000 troy ounces. The live "spot" figures on price websites and dealer pages generally follow this futures trading closely.

The LBMA benchmarks (London). Twice each London business day, an auction sets the LBMA Gold Price, at 10:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. London time. The LBMA Silver Price is set once a day, at noon. ICE Benchmark Administration runs both. These are the prices many large contracts use. The US Mint, for example, prices its bullion coins to dealers off the LBMA prices.

That is why two websites can show slightly different spot prices at the same moment. They may use different feeds or update at different speeds. The gap is usually small.

What was the spot price when we checked?

Here are the spot prices one large online dealer showed on October 30, 2026. They are here to make the examples on this site concrete. Look up today's price before you buy or sell anything.

The ratio is simply the gold price divided by the silver price. It tells you how many ounces of silver one ounce of gold bought that day. It is a measure, not a signal to buy either metal. Our gold vs. silver comparison explains it.

Why is physical gold more expensive than spot?

Because spot is the price of raw metal in bulk, and a coin or small bar costs money to make, ship and sell. The extra amount you pay is called the premium.

The premium pays for refining, minting, packaging, shipping, insurance and the dealer's profit. Even the US Mint charges a markup before a coin reaches a store. It sells 1 ounce American Gold Eagles to its authorized dealers at the LBMA gold price plus 3%, and Silver Eagles at the LBMA silver price plus $3.05 per coin. The dealers then add their own markup.

Premiums are usually higher on:

• Silver than gold, as a share of the price.
• Small coins and bars than 1 ounce pieces. The Mint charges its dealers 9% over the gold price for a 1/10 ounce Gold Eagle.
• Card payments than check or wire.
• Collector coins (rare, graded or "proof" coins) than plain bullion.

Our premiums and spreads guide shows the dated numbers and a worked example.

Can you buy gold or silver at spot price?

No, not as a regular buyer. Every retail coin and bar sells for more than spot, and that is normal.

Be careful with any offer at or below spot. The US Mint says that if you are offered a coin below the current market price, "extra scrutiny should be exercised." Common reasons for a too-good price are fake metal, metal that never ships, or a low price used to pull you into a much more expensive purchase later. See our page on how to spot fake gold and silver.

What is a troy ounce, and how is it different from a regular ounce?

A troy ounce is the unit used for precious metals, and it is about 10% heavier than the ounce on a kitchen scale.

According to NIST, the US government's measurement agency:

Two things trip people up:

• "Ounce" on a coin or price list always means troy ounce. Every spot price is per troy ounce.
• A pound is different too. An ordinary pound (about 453.6 grams) holds about 14.6 troy ounces, not 16. So if you weigh metal at home on a regular scale, convert before you multiply by spot.

What do karat and purity mean?

Purity tells you how much of a coin or bar is actual gold or silver. Gold purity is often given in karats, and both metals are also shown as a decimal called fineness.

Karats. Karats count gold in 24 parts. The FTC's jewelry rules treat "fine (24 karat) gold" as pure gold. So 22 karat means 22 parts gold out of 24, and the rest is other metals that make the coin harder.

Fineness. This is purity as a decimal. ".999" means 99.9% pure. ".9999" (often called "four nines") means 99.99% pure.

Common US Mint examples:

Here is the important part. A 1 ounce Gold Eagle contains one full troy ounce of gold, even though it is only 22 karat (91.67% gold). The Mint makes the coin a little heavier, about 1.0909 troy ounces in total, so the gold inside equals one ounce. When you check a quote, use the gold content (the "fine weight"), not the total weight of the coin. Our guide to the most popular gold coins compares more coins side by side.

What is the difference between the bid and ask price?

The ask is the price a dealer sells at, and the bid is the price it buys at. Many price pages show both.

The ask is always higher. When a page shows a single spot number, check whether it is the bid or the ask. If you are selling, the bid side is closer to what matters to you. The gap between them is one part of the cost of buying and later selling, which our premiums and spreads guide explains.

How do I check a dealer's price quote myself?

Multiply the metal content by the spot price, then compare that number with the price you are quoted. The CFTC suggests exactly this: compare the actual weight times spot with the price you are being charged.

Here is how, with made-up round numbers to keep the math easy:

1. Find the fine weight. A 1/2 ounce gold coin holds 0.5 troy ounces of gold.
2. Look up spot right now. Say gold spot is $2,000 an ounce.
3. Multiply. 0.5 x $2,000 = $1,000 of gold in the coin. That is the same example the CFTC and FINRA use.
4. Compare with the quote. If the dealer asks $1,060, the premium is $60, or 6% over the metal value.
5. Ask what they would pay you back. The difference between what you pay and what you would get back is your real cost if you had to sell soon.

If the number you work out and the number you are quoted are far apart, ask why. A big gap can mean you are being offered a collector coin at a collector price, which is much harder to sell later at a fair price. Our page on bullion vs. collector coins explains the difference.

What the spot price can't tell you

Spot tells you what the metal is worth today. It doesn't tell you what it will be worth next year, and it doesn't show the full cost of owning metal.

Keep these in mind:

• No income. Gold and silver pay no interest or dividends. Any return comes only from a higher price when you sell.
• Costs on the way in and out. You pay a premium to buy and usually get a bit less than spot when you sell.
• Ongoing costs. A safe, a bank box or a vault, plus insurance, all cost money. See where to store gold and silver.
• Price swings. Both metals can fall sharply, and silver moves more than gold.
• Long flat stretches. Metal prices can go years without rising.
• Taxes. Gains on gold and silver are taxed under special collectibles rules. See how gold and silver are taxed.

If you are just starting out, our step-by-step guide on how to buy gold for the first time puts spot, premiums, storage and taxes in order.