Precious Metals Prices
Track gold, silver, platinum, and palladium prices. Calculate metal value by weight. Free precious metals price tracker
Gold has been a store of value for 5,000 years and the textbook hedge against inflation, currency devaluation, and geopolitical chaos. Its price reflects all three: macro fears push it up, strong USD pushes it down, and central bank buying or selling moves the market in chunks. This tracker shows spot prices for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in your chosen currency, computes the value of a holding by weight (grams, troy ounces, kg), and shows historical price context.
Units and pricing conventions
- Troy ounce (oz t) — the standard unit for precious metals. 1 troy ounce = 31.1035 grams. NOT the same as the avoirdupois ounce (28.35g) used for groceries.
- Grams — common in retail jewelry pricing in Europe and Asia.
- Kilogram — for institutional / investment-grade trading. 1 kg = 32.151 troy ounces.
- Karat — for jewelry purity. 24 karat = pure gold. 18k = 75% gold. 14k = 58.3% gold. 9k = 37.5% gold.
- Fineness — alternative purity expression. 999 = 99.9% pure. 916 = 91.6% (22k). 750 = 75% (18k). Used in hallmarks.
- Spot price — wholesale current market price per troy ounce. Retail buyers pay spot + premium (5-15% over spot for coins, more for jewelry).
Working example
Input
10 grams of 18-karat gold; gold spot at $2,400/oz
Output
Pure gold content: 10g × (18/24) = 7.5g Convert to troy ounces: 7.5g / 31.1035 = 0.2412 oz Intrinsic gold value: 0.2412 oz × $2,400/oz = $578.80 Retail price (jewelry) for 10g of 18k gold: Gold content value: $578.80 Jewelry premium (labor, design, retail margin): $400-1,200 Total retail price: $978 to $1,778 Sell-back / scrap price (10g of 18k as scrap): Buyer pays 70-90% of gold content: $405-521 No premium for design or workmanship. The gap is the "gold jewelry cost" — paying for the craftsmanship. For pure investment, buy coins or bars (much smaller premium).
Gold coins (American Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, Krugerrand) trade at 3-8% premium over spot. Gold bars (1 oz, 10 oz, kilo) trade at 1-3% premium. Jewelry trades at 100%+ premium. The premium reflects fabrication, distribution, recognition, and resale liquidity.
Forms of gold investment
- Physical bullion (coins, bars) — direct ownership. No counterparty risk. Storage cost (home safe, bank deposit, third-party vault) and insurance.
- Gold ETFs (GLD, IAU) — own shares of a fund that holds physical gold. Liquid, tradeable like stocks, no storage concern. Annual fees 0.2-0.4%.
- Gold mining stocks — leverage to gold price plus operational risk. Can outperform gold in bull markets, underperform in bear.
- Gold futures — leveraged exposure. High capital efficiency, high risk. Most investors do not use these.
- Gold mining royalty companies — own future revenue streams from mines without operating them. Less risk than miners, more leverage than ETFs.
- Digital gold (e.g., on crypto exchanges) — tokenized claims on real gold. Convenience but reintroduces counterparty risk.
When to reach for this tool
- You are considering buying or selling precious metals and want the current spot price plus a baseline value calculation.
- You inherited gold jewelry and want to estimate its scrap value before deciding to keep or sell.
- You are pricing inventory for a jeweler or pawnbroker.
- You are tracking precious metal portfolio value for personal finance.
What this tool will not do
- It will not predict future prices. Gold prices are notoriously hard to forecast; even long-time analysts disagree on direction.
- It will not give appraisal-grade evaluations. Real jewelry appraisal considers maker, age, condition, stones, certification — beyond just metal content.
- It will not handle counterfeits. "Gold-plated" tungsten bars are an old fraud; this calculator assumes the metal content you specify.
- It will not act as a buyer or seller. Use a reputable dealer (APMEX, JM Bullion, local coin shop with track record). Avoid private buyers from online listings (high risk of fraud, no recourse).
Spot prices update from public market data feeds. For execution-grade quotes (large transactions), confirm with your dealer at trade time — even small delays affect actual prices.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the retail gold price so much higher than spot?
Premium covers: fabrication (turning bullion into coins / bars / jewelry), distribution (shipping, dealer margin), buyer recognition (a Krugerrand is easier to resell than an unmarked bar). Coins: 3-8% premium. Bars: 1-3%. Jewelry: 100%+ premium.
Is gold a good inflation hedge?
Mixed evidence. Over 30+ year periods, gold has roughly kept pace with inflation. Over shorter periods (5-10 years), gold can underperform inflation or wildly overperform. As one component of a diversified portfolio: useful; as a sole inflation hedge: insufficient.
How much gold should I own?
Common allocation in portfolio theory: 5-10% in precious metals as diversification. For "doomsday" scenarios, some recommend higher; for purely financial optimization, lower. Personal risk tolerance and worldview drive the number.
Where should I store gold?
Small amounts: home safe (fire-rated, bolted). Larger amounts: bank safe deposit box (cheap but not insured), private vault (insured, ~0.5-1%/year), allocated storage with a dealer (no physical possession but no counterparty risk in well-run firms).
Is silver / platinum / palladium also "money metals"?
Silver: yes, historically. More industrial demand than gold makes it more volatile. Platinum and palladium: primarily industrial (catalytic converters); price tracks economic activity more than gold. For monetary purposes, gold dominates.
What is the difference between 22k and 24k gold?
24k is pure gold (99.9%); 22k is 91.6% gold + 8.4% alloy (copper, silver). 22k is harder than 24k (pure gold is soft); used for jewelry. Investment coins are typically 22k or 24k; 24k is more "purist" but 22k is more durable.
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Last updated · E-Utils editorial team