Gold Spot Price Charts

The price of gold can be difficult to track. This page is here to help.

Our gold price chart tracks the spot price in real-time around the clock. You can look at how gold has moved for any length of time between the last 24 hours all the way up to January 1, 1995. You can even set your own custom date range to look for trends.

What is the Spot Price of Gold?

The spot price of gold is the market price to buy or sell one troy ounce of gold. It serves as a reflection of the overall supply and demand for gold, along with a sort of reverse commentary on the health of the economy and the rate of inflation.

The spot price itself is not the actual market price. Rather, it is a statement of the price for a gold futures contract with immediate delivery. In other words, the spot price is a reflection of the agreements between commodity futures traders on the Commodity Exchange, or COMEX.

Finally, the spot price of gold is not a static number. Instead, it is simply a snapshot of the trading at any given second, and changes on a near-continuous basis.

Our gold price charts allow you to view the price of gold per ounce, gram and kilo. You can also adjust the chart to look at historical timeframes to provide you more insights into market trends.

Factors That Influence the Gold Price

Commodity traders don’t set gold prices arbitrarily. Liike any other commodity, gold’s price is governed by supply and demand—the balance between how much is available and how many people want it. Several factors influence gold’s supply and demand, often driving the price up or down.

The first is the state and direction of the national and/or world economy. As economic conditions decline, consumers begin searching for alternatives to safeguard their net worths. So, demand for gold increases, and absent a concurrent increase in supply, the price for an ounce increases.

Another related factor is inflation, which has both direct and indirect impacts on the spot price. As the value of the fiat currency dilutes, an ounce of gold necessarily requires more of it for purchase because the gold itself hasn’t lost any of its potency. Inflation can also lead consumers to the same conclusion about their own currency, and cause them to gravitate towards the safe haven of gold.

Geopolitics can make a big difference regarding the supply of gold, as gold is not found in one location globally. A change in governance in a key producing nation can lead to a relaxation of restrictions on gold mining, or an implementation of stricter controls. Any increase in supply typically yields lower prices, while constricted supply has the opposite effect.

Finally, gold mining is not a particularly good thing for the environment. The use of heavy equipment and dangerous chemicals can have adverse effects on the surrounding areas. For one thing, the decline in conditions may make further mining risky or untenable.

For another, a country may pass specific restrictions to protect the natural environment from further harm. Therefore, environmental concerns tend to reduce supply and, consequently, increase the price.

Gold as an Investment

Gold is a critical investment category for most portfolios because it often has an inverse relationship to the other investment classes. In other words, its movements typically run counter to the stocks, bonds, and mutual funds of the world.

This counter movement is due to the fact that almost every type of investment relies on the overall health of the economy. When times are good, people are more likely to invest in stocks and the like because the businesses underlying the stocks’ performance are growing and realizing more profit. However, when times are bad, and most investments are in decline, investors seek a safe haven for their wealth, and often turn to purchasing gold.

Gold also serves as a hedge against inflation because of its steadfast value. The value of gold is calculated in terms of fiat currency, but its intrinsic underlying value as a perennial and tangible object of wealth never changes. Thus, as the fiat currency dilutes, gold provides an opportunity to preserve net worth.

Finally, gold is mostly crash-proof, economically speaking. Economies may fail, but gold is always valuable. So, even if the world completely stops turning, gold allows investors to have something for trade.

Key Metrics for Gold Investors

If you want to invest in gold, there are several different metrics and figures that you should examine. Even though gold is unequivocally an excellent investment, you want to buy when the situation looks favorable as often as you can.

The first metric to examine is the one that we provide on this page. The spot price is the best way to see the trends that the metal is undergoing and has undergone in both recent and long-term history. Even if you can’t glean any information from the movement of the spot price, it’s good to know the absolute minimum amount you’ll have to pay for an ounce of gold.

Knowing the spot price also allows you to examine the various premiums that the dealers are charging for their pieces. Simply put, you have to shop around before you buy, and different sites have different prices. All else equal, you want to pay the lowest amount that you can.

Before you do, however, you might want to take a look at the gold-to-silver ratio. This ratio is the spot price for gold compared to the spot price for silver. If the ratio is high – say, 80:1 or greater – it might be worth waiting to buy gold or even turn your attention to silver. If it is low – lower than 50:1 – gold is probably a pretty good option for you.

Gold IRA

It is possible to use gold as a way to diversify your retirement portfolio. An individual retirement account, or IRA, can take gold coins, bars, or rounds as part of its collateral provided that it meets a certain requirement.

Namely, the IRS requires that gold kept by an IRA be 99.5% pure, or .995 fine. This requirement is actually lower than for other precious metals – silver’s is .999, while platinum and palladium must be at least 99.95% pure.

How to Sell Gold

With gold prices as high as they are, it’s understandable if you’d like to sell your gold and realize some profits.

The first thing to do is check the spot price chart on this page for gold. Don’t shoot for specificity, necessarily – you just need to get an idea about what neighborhood the spot price is in. The truth of the matter is that any professional buyer for your gold is going to use the sell-side, or bid, spot price as the basis for your offer, rather than the publicized buy-side, or ask, spot price that is featured on most charts (including the one on this page).

Then, shop around. Even if you don’t plan on buying online, you should try to find out what you can reasonably expect to get for your holdings. There’s nothing wrong with calling up a dealer (like us) and finding out what price we’d pay.

Finally, pull the trigger on the deal. If you visit a local coin shop, be careful taking your pieces over there, and watch out for lower price offers – retail shops have to pay the power bill and staff to function. If you sell online, be sure that you follow the instructions provided by your chosen website exactly as they appear, as their shipping and handling processes have been refined precisely to keep your gold safe in transit.

FAQs

What are the benefits of investing in gold compared to other precious metals?

Gold is the most popular precious metal because of its universal recognition as a valuable item. That recognition also makes gold the most liquid of the big four, or easiest to buy or sell.

What role does gold play in a diversified investment portfolio?

Gold is the safety valve for many investment portfolios, as its value often fluctuates inversely with the performance of most other investment classes. Thus, you can balance some of your more riskier assets – those that depend on the market appreciating – against your gold holdings.

What are the implications of central banks buying or selling gold on spot prices?

Generally speaking, central bank purchasing of gold tends to increase the spot price of gold. Though they buy at the current spot price, their increased demand against static supply necessarily pushes the spot price higher.

How does the strength of the U.S. dollar influence gold prices?

The movement of the value of the US dollar tends to push gold prices in the opposite direction. A stronger dollar usually means cheaper gold, while weaker dollars make gold more expensive.

How does the London Fix influence gold spot prices globally?

The London Fix is a twice-daily conference call between executives with some of the world’s largest banks to establish a common trading price for gold between the participating banks. Although it does not directly change the spot price, it nevertheless serves as an informal benchmark for most of the world’s gold transactions.

What are the risks of investing in gold futures?

The primary risk associated with buying a gold futures contract is that they are leveraged products. In other words, you are gaining control of a contract which exceeds the actual value of your investment and requires the use of other money or debt. As such, wiggles in the spot price have a magnified effect on the value of the investment. It can lead to explosive growth, or it can lead to you owing more for losses than you initially invested.

Most financial advisors and people in the know strongly caution against using gold futures as long-term investments. In the end, it only takes a few hours to put you on the hook for more money than you could possibly afford.