Gold Spot Prices Explained

What is the Gold Spot Price?

The spot price of gold is the most common standard used to gauge the going rate for a troy ounce of gold. The price is driven by speculation in the markets, currency values, current events, and many other factors. Gold spot price is used as the basis for most bullion dealers to determine the exact price to charge for a specific coin or bar. These prices are calculated in troy ounces and change every couple of seconds during market hours.

How to Buy Gold Near Spot PriceGold as an Investment

Gold is available for investment in the form of bullion and paper certificates. Physical gold bullion is produced by many private and government mints both in the USA and worldwide. This option is most commonly found in a bar, coin, and round form, with a vast amount of sizes available for each.

Gold bars can range anywhere in size from one gram up to 400 ounces, while most coins are found in one ounce and fractional sizes. Like other precious metals, physical gold is regarded by some as a good way to protect themselves against the ongoing devaluation of fiat currencies and from volatile stock markets.

Buying gold certificates is another way to invest in the metal. A gold certificate is basically a piece of paper stating that you own a specified amount of gold stored at an off-site location. This is different from owning bullion unencumbered and outright because you are never actually taking physical ownership of the gold. While some investors enjoy the ease of buying paper gold, some prefer to see and hold their precious metals first-hand.

Gold Spot Price FAQs

What is the gold price quoting exactly?

When you see the price of gold posted somewhere, such as on a website or a dealer’s page, it will usually be quoted as the spot gold price per troy ounce in U.S. dollars (USD). One can, however, get the price of gold per gram or kilo, as well.

What does the "spot price" mean?

The spot price of gold — or any commodity for that matter — represents the price at which the commodity may be exchanged and delivered upon now. This is in contrast to gold or commodity futures contracts, which specify a price for the commodity for future delivery date.

How are spot gold prices determined?

Gold is a commodity that is traded all over the world, and as such, it trades across many different exchanges, such as Chicago, New York, Zurich, Hong Kong, and London. The COMEX, formerly part of the New York Mercantile Exchange and now part of the CME Group in Chicago, is the key exchange for determining the spot gold price. The spot gold price is calculated using data from the front-month futures contract traded on the COMEX. If the front-month contract has little to no volume, then the next delivery month with the most volume will be utilized.

What currency is the spot gold price quoted in?

Gold is traded in U.S. dollars (USD) and is therefore quoted in USD. In areas outside of the U.S., the spot gold price is taken in USD and simply converted to local currency.

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