What Is the Spot Price of Gold?
Quick answer: The spot price of gold is the wholesale price of one troy ounce of fine gold, in US dollars, for immediate delivery, which in London means settlement two business days after the trade. At the latest update, November 11, 2026, that number was $3,987.20.
Gold spot $3,987.20 per troy ounce · COMEX front month $3,993.60 · as of · spot from gold-api.com, futures from Yahoo Finance
That figure is the same one shown on the gold spot market price page, refreshed on the same schedule. It is a reference number for large trades between banks, refiners and dealers. It is not a price tag on a coin, and the rest of this page explains the gap between the two.
| Quote | Per troy oz | vs spot | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spot quote | $3,987.20 | — | gold-api.com | |
| COMEX front-month futures | $3,993.60 | +$6.40 | Yahoo Finance (GC=F) | |
| Shanghai morning benchmark, in dollars | $4,124.64 | +$137.44 | Shanghai Gold Exchange at the ECB rate |
The panel above puts three quotes side by side, each with its own time stamp. The first is spot. The second is the front month of the COMEX gold futures contract, which settles later and so usually sits a little above spot; right now the gap is $6.40, or +0.16%. The third is the Shanghai Gold Exchange benchmark from November 10, 2026, converted from yuan per gram into dollars per ounce, which gives $4,124.64. Three honest numbers, three different markets, three different moments. None of them is wrong.
Where the definition comes from
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission defines a spot price as the price at which a physical commodity for immediate delivery is selling at a given time and place. Its glossary adds that "spot" is the market of immediate delivery and payment, and that a spot commodity is the actual metal, as distinct from a futures contract. Those three entries carry most of the meaning: real metal, paid for and handed over now, at a stated moment.
London fills in the details. The London Bullion Market Association, whose members run the largest over-the-counter gold market, says trades there settle two business days after the trade date, on what it calls the spot date. So a Monday deal settles on Wednesday, and a Friday deal settles the following Tuesday. "Immediate" in the wholesale market therefore means T+2, not the same afternoon.
The LBMA glossary has no single entry for "spot price". Instead, its guide to the market describes what the generic price in the media refers to: a troy ounce delivered Loco London, credited on the spot date, in US dollars, in Good Delivery bars. That is the closest thing to an official description of the number most people call gold spot.
If you want to know who actually produces the reference prices, the companion page on how the gold spot price is set walks through the London auctions, the futures market in New York and the Shanghai exchange.
What the spot price covers, and what it leaves out
This is the part most quote pages skip. Spot is a narrow, precise number. It describes one kind of trade, and everything outside that trade has to be added on top.
| Item | Inside the spot price? | What that means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| One troy ounce of fine gold | Yes | Quoted by default in US dollars per troy ounce | |
| Wholesale size | Yes | Media prices normally represent the wholesale market | |
| Large bars | Yes | London Good Delivery bars hold roughly 400 troy ounces | |
| Fineness | Yes | Good Delivery gold is at least 995.0 parts per thousand fine | |
| Settlement | Yes | Two business days after the trade, on the spot date | |
| Location | Yes | Delivered Loco London, held in London vaults | |
| Minting or bar-making | No | Fabrication is a cost charged on top | |
| Dealer margin | No | A dealer sells above spot and buys back below it | |
| Shipping and insurance | No | Spot is a price for metal settling in the wholesale market, not a delivered parcel | none needed |
| Sales tax | No | Depends on the state; some tax bullion, many exempt it |
Read the "Yes" rows together and the picture is clear. The spot price is for big bars, sitting in a London vault, changing hands between professionals on a two-day settlement. A one-ounce coin in a padded envelope on your doorstep is a different product, even when it contains exactly the same gold.
The "No" rows are where the retail price is built. A mint or refiner charges to turn a large bar into small coins. The dealer who stocks them adds a margin, and the federal regulators' own bulletin says plainly that a dealer will always sell metal above spot and buy it back below. Shipping and insurance get added at checkout. Sales tax depends on where you live. The full breakdown, with named and dated premium figures, is on the spot price vs retail price page.
Jewelry follows the same logic with one more step. Its metal value is the weight of pure gold it contains multiplied by spot, which is how the CFTC describes melt value for bullion too. Design, labor and retail markup then sit on top of that metal value.
Bid, ask and mid on a quote screen
A live gold quote is often two numbers, not one. The bid is what a buyer is offering to pay, and the ask is the level at which a seller is willing to sell; the CFTC glossary defines both, along with the spread between them. In the wholesale market the two sit close together, but they are never identical.
Quote screens handle this pair in different ways. Some show the bid alone. Some show the ask. Others show the midpoint, halfway between the two, and call that spot. A few show all three. When a page does not say which one it prints, you can't be sure which side of the market you are looking at, and the difference can be a few dollars on a calm day and more when trading is fast.
None of this changes what spot means. It only changes which edge of a narrow band a given screen reports.
Why two sites show different numbers in the same minute
Open two price pages at the same moment and you will often see two different gold prices. That is normal, and there are four usual reasons.
Timing. Every quote is a snapshot. One page may refresh every few seconds, another every minute, another every few hours. If one stamp reads 2:01 and the other 2:04, they are measuring different moments in a market that trades almost around the clock. This site prints the time stamp next to every figure for exactly that reason.
Futures versus physical. Some pages take their "spot" from the front month of COMEX futures, and others from feeds tied to the London over-the-counter market. On November 11, 2026 the front-month futures price was $3,993.60 against a spot figure of $3,987.20, a gap of $6.40. A site that labels a futures quote as spot will look higher than one that does not. The page on gold ticker symbols explains which codes point to which market, so you can tell what a chart is actually showing.
Bid, ask or mid. As described above, one page may show the bid and another the midpoint. Same market, same second, different number.
Rounding and currency. A Shanghai figure has to be converted from yuan per gram, and a figure per gram has to be scaled up to the ounce. Each conversion uses an exchange rate taken at some moment, and small differences in that rate show up in the final dollar figure.
So before you compare two quotes, look at the time on each, ask whether it is a futures price or a spot feed, and check whether it is a bid or a midpoint. When all three match, the numbers usually agree to within a few dollars.
Troy ounces, not kitchen ounces
Gold is weighed in troy ounces. One troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams, and one kilogram is 32.1507465 troy ounces, according to the LBMA glossary. A troy ounce is also about 1.097 of the ordinary avoirdupois ounces used on a kitchen scale, so it is roughly ten percent heavier.
That matters when you convert. Today's figure per gram, $128.19, is the ounce price divided by 31.1034768, not by 28-something. A seller who quotes "per ounce" for gold means the troy ounce, even if the word "troy" is left out.
What this page can't tell you
This page can't tell you what any particular dealer will charge you for a particular coin today, because that depends on their stock, their margin and the product. It can't tell you which way the price moves next, and nobody else can either. It also cannot vouch for the method behind any other quote page; many do not publish whether they show a bid, an ask or a midpoint. What it can do is define the number exactly, show it with a time stamp, and lay out what sits between that number and a price you would actually pay.
If you want to see how the number has moved over hours or years, the guide on how to read a gold spot chart covers candles, ranges and volatility, and today's gold spot price is always one click away.
Spot price and a gold IRA
Retirement accounts that hold physical gold use spot as a reference too. Custodians commonly value metal on a spot-based calculation, while a dealer's live bid reflects the specific products, quantities and resale market, according to Augusta Precious Metals in its own FAQ. Augusta also says on its gold IRA page that every purchase includes a dealer spread above the spot price of gold.
Information, not financial advice. This page does not tell you to buy or sell, and it does not forecast prices. Figures are reference values at the time shown.
Questions about the spot price of gold
Is the spot price the price I pay for a gold coin?
No. Spot is a wholesale reference for large bars settling in two business days. A coin costs more because minting, the dealer's margin, shipping and sometimes sales tax are added on top. When you sell, a dealer usually pays you below spot, because it needs room to resell the coin.
Why is the futures price higher than spot?
A futures contract settles at a later date, so its price usually includes the cost of holding gold until then, mostly interest and storage. That gap is called the basis. On this site it is shown live beside the spot figure, and today it reads $6.40, which you can check against the stamps.
Who decides the spot price?
No single person or body does. Spot emerges from trading between banks, dealers and refiners in London, from the futures market in New York, and from the Shanghai exchange. Benchmarks such as the London auctions take a snapshot of that trading twice a day, and quote sites stream the in-between moments.
Sources
Every page a fact on this page came from, marked as the publisher's own page or a page that reports it, with the date we read it.
- cftc.gov (cftc.gov; the publisher's own page; read 2026-11-11)
- lbma.org.uk (lbma.org.uk; the publisher's own page; read 2026-11-11)
- lbma.org.uk (lbma.org.uk; the publisher's own page; read 2026-11-11)
- lbma.org.uk (lbma.org.uk; the publisher's own page; read 2026-11-11)
- lbma.org.uk (lbma.org.uk; the publisher's own page; read 2026-11-11)
- stonexbullion.com (stonexbullion.com; a page reporting it; read 2026-11-11)
- cftc.gov (cftc.gov; the publisher's own page; read 2026-11-11)
- numismaticnews.net (numismaticnews.net; a page reporting it; read 2026-11-11)
- dor.wa.gov (dor.wa.gov; the publisher's own page; read 2026-11-11)
- augustapreciousmetals.com (augustapreciousmetals.com; the publisher's own page; read 2026-11-11)
- augustapreciousmetals.com (augustapreciousmetals.com; the publisher's own page; read 2026-11-11)
Keep reading
One thing first
WAIT! Before You Pay Over Spot for Gold
Spot gold is $3,987.20 per troy ounce at the time below. Every coin or bar sells for more than that, so hold any quote up against this number and ask what the difference pays for.
Weighing gold for an IRA? Augusta Precious Metals lists a $50,000 minimum, roughly 12.5 ounces at today's spot, which makes it a fit for rollovers rather than a single coin. The button asks Augusta for its free kit, and Augusta then contacts you by phone.
Spot price as of November 11, 2026 at 20:23 UTC.
Advertising disclosure: Augusta may pay this site if you request the kit with this button. It costs you nothing, and consenting to calls is not required to buy. Full disclosure.
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