The spot price of gold is the wholesale price of one troy ounce for delivery now, and the LBMA Gold Price PM stood at $4,144.55 on September 28, 2026. So why does a one-ounce coin cost more than that, and why does your IRA statement show less than you paid? A troy ounce is the 31.1-gram ounce used for precious metals. The LBMA Gold Price PM is the London afternoon benchmark: one official price taken at a fixed moment of the day.
Spot is the starting point for every price in our guide to gold and silver for retirement. Three different prices are called "the gold price", and each has its own maker. Below you find who makes each one, who runs the London auctions, why you pay a premium over spot and what a first statement shows.
This page shows no live ticker. It explains the number, with every rule linked to the exchange, the benchmark administrator or the regulator.
What Is the Spot Price of Gold?#
The spot price of gold is the price at which large traders buy and sell gold for immediate delivery, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. Wholesale means trading in bulk between banks and trading firms, not in single coins.
The price you see on a chart or a dealer's website is a live quote built from that wholesale trading. It changes every few seconds while markets are open. It is not a price list set by any one office.
What does "spot" mean?#
"Spot" means on the spot: a price for a deal that settles now, not at a date months away. To settle is to hand over the metal and the money. In the London wholesale market, a spot deal settles within days.
The London auctions trade "spot, unallocated loco London gold", says ICE Benchmark Administration, which runs them. Loco London means the gold sits in a London vault. Unallocated means a claim on a bank's pool of gold, not named bars.
A futures price is the opposite: the price agreed today for delivery in a later month.
Is there one official spot price of gold?#
No. There is no single official spot price of gold, because no government or exchange publishes one. Price apps and dealers build their own quote from 2 sources: trading between firms in London, and the nearest active gold futures contract on COMEX, the New York futures exchange.
Two price feeds can differ by a few dollars in the same minute. Only the London benchmark auctions produce a price at a fixed moment. So when someone says "the gold price", ask which of 3 prices they mean.
Spot price per ounce, gram and kilo#
Gold is priced per troy ounce, which is 31.1034768 grams, about 10% heavier than the ounce on a kitchen scale. The table below converts one dated reference price into 3 units.
| Unit | Price on September 28, 2026 (LBMA Gold Price PM) |
|---|---|
| 1 troy ounce | $4,144.55 |
| 1 gram | $133.25 |
| 1 kilogram (32.1507 troy ounces) | $133,250 |
SafeOunce conversion of one reference price from the LBMA price file; not a live quote.
The full troy ounce vs ounce comparison explains why gold uses its own ounce.
Who Sets the Spot Price of Gold? 3 Prices, 3 Makers#
Nobody sets the spot price of gold: it comes from trading in 3 places, the London over-the-counter market, COMEX futures in New York and a twice-daily London auction. Over-the-counter means trades made directly between firms, not on an exchange. A futures contract is a standard promise to deliver gold in a later month. The table below shows the 3 prices and who makes each one.
| The price | Who makes it | When | What it is used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live spot quote | Banks and trading firms quoting each other in London's over-the-counter market | Around the clock on weekdays | Charts, price apps, dealer websites |
| COMEX futures price | Buyers and sellers on the CME Group exchange in New York | Exchange hours | Hedging and trading; most US tickers follow the nearest active month |
| LBMA Gold Price | An electronic auction run by ICE Benchmark Administration | 10:30 and 15:00 London time | Contracts, fund valuations, the price SafeOunce cites |
The 3 numbers stay close, but they are not the same number. For the cost of a coin, skip ahead to "Why Do You Pay More Than the Spot Price of Gold?" and the $100,000 example.
1. The London over-the-counter market: the live spot quote#
The live spot quote comes from banks and trading firms that buy and sell gold directly with each other in London, with no exchange in the middle. Data companies collect their quotes and send them to charts, apps and dealer websites.
The gold these firms trade comes in Good Delivery bars, the bar standard of the London market. The London Good Delivery rules require 350 to 430 fine troy ounces per bar, at least 995.0 parts per thousand pure. A fine ounce counts only the pure gold in a bar. The LBMA, short for London Bullion Market Association, is the trade body of that London market.
2. COMEX gold futures in New York#
COMEX is the New York futures exchange where one gold contract covers 100 troy ounces, and its nearest active month drives most US price tickers. Its rulebook, filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on August 12, 2024, defines the contract.
To assay is to test purity, and fineness is purity in parts per thousand.
A second contract, Gold (Enhanced Delivery) Futures under Rule 126101, lets London's 400-ounce bars back New York delivery. The rule says: "Each ACE represents a share in the ownership of one (1) 400 troy ounce bar." Four of these paper shares make one bar.
That contract was already in the rulebook filed on August 12, 2024, so it is not a 2025 invention. The filing of April 17, 2025 only clarified how bars are weighed.
The tax code, at 26 U.S.C. 408(m)(3)(B), ties IRA bullion to the purity a futures contract requires. That 995 figure is where the gold IRA purity requirements come from.
3. The LBMA Gold Price: a twice-daily London auction#
The LBMA Gold Price is a benchmark set twice each London business day by an electronic auction, at 10:30 and 15:00 London time. A benchmark is a snapshot taken at a fixed moment, so that contracts have one price to settle against.
SafeOunce cites this series, with its date, on every page. Who runs the auction, and how a round works, is covered next.
Who does not set the price of gold#
Five bodies that readers often name do not set the gold price. They are listed below with what each one does do.
- The US government and the IRS: neither sets the market price of gold. The IRS publishes no list of approved coins either (IRS retirement plan investments FAQs).
- The US Mint: it makes coins. It does not set the metal price.
- The LBMA: it owns the benchmark's name. ICE Benchmark Administration runs the auction.
- Your dealer: it sets its own premium and buy-back price, not the spot price under them.
- Your IRA custodian: the trust company that holds your IRA reports a value from a price feed. It does not set that value.
The table below shows which price applies to you in 5 everyday situations. The ask is the price you pay a dealer, and the bid is the price a dealer pays you.
| Your situation | The price that applies | Who produces it |
|---|---|---|
| You read a headline about gold | COMEX futures or an intraday spot high | Exchange trading and data companies |
| A dealer quotes you a coin | The dealer's ask, above its own spot feed | The dealer |
| You sell a coin | The dealer's bid, below spot | The dealer |
| You open your IRA statement | A spot or bid value from a price feed | The source your custodian names |
| Form 5498 and your yearly required withdrawal | The year-end value | Your custodian |
Who Administers the LBMA Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium Prices? ICE Benchmark Administration Has Run All 4 Since July 1, 2026#
Since July 1, 2026, ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) has administered the LBMA benchmark prices for all 4 precious metals: gold, silver, platinum and palladium. A benchmark administrator is the company that runs the auction and publishes the price. The LBMA's notice of June 24, 2026 says IBA "will begin administering the LBMA Platinum and Palladium Price auctions and benchmarks from 1 July 2026". The same notice says the London Metal Exchange (LME) "will cease administering" them "on 30 June 2026".
IBA's own platinum and palladium methodology carries the date "1 July 2026, the date IBA became the administrator". It says IBA is "authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority", the UK's financial regulator. The LBMA describes the split of roles: IBA "independently administers the price and provides the auction platform", while the LBMA owns "the intellectual property rights".
The timeline below puts all 4 handovers side by side.
| Metal | Old method | Replaced on | First administrator | Administrator today (since) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | London gold fixing, from 1919 | March 20, 2015 | IBA | IBA (March 20, 2015) |
| Silver | London silver fixing, from 1897 | August 15, 2014 | CME Benchmark Europe (calculation) and Thomson Reuters Benchmark Services (administration) | IBA (autumn 2017; start date announced as October 2, 2017) |
| Platinum | Quotation from 1973, full fixing from 1989 | December 1, 2014 | London Metal Exchange | IBA (July 1, 2026) |
| Palladium | Quotation after 1973, full fixing from 1989 | December 1, 2014 | London Metal Exchange | IBA (July 1, 2026) |
Sources: LBMA OTC Guide, "Precious Metal Benchmarks"; LBMA announcements of December 1, 2014, March 20, 2015, November 20, 2025 and June 24, 2026; ICE release of September 21, 2017. Compiled by SafeOunce.
The LME ran the platinum and palladium auctions for 11 years and 7 months. IBA now runs 7 auctions each London business day: 2 for gold, 1 for silver, 2 for platinum and 2 for palladium.
The schedule below gives each auction in London time, US Eastern time and UTC, the world time standard.
| Benchmark | London time | US Eastern time | UTC in winter | UTC in British Summer Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LBMA Platinum Price AM | 9:45 | 4:45 a.m. | 09:45 | 08:45 |
| LBMA Palladium Price AM | Right after platinum | Right after platinum | Right after platinum | Right after platinum |
| LBMA Gold Price AM | 10:30 | 5:30 a.m. | 10:30 | 09:30 |
| LBMA Silver Price | 12:00 | 7:00 a.m. | 12:00 | 11:00 |
| LBMA Platinum Price PM | 14:00 | 9:00 a.m. | 14:00 | 13:00 |
| LBMA Palladium Price PM | Right after platinum | Right after platinum | Right after platinum | Right after platinum |
| LBMA Gold Price PM | 15:00 | 10:00 a.m. | 15:00 | 14:00 |
Start times from the 2 IBA methodology documents; the price is published when the auction balances, minutes later. No benchmark prices are set on weekends or UK bank holidays (LBMA). Eastern time is 5 hours behind London, except for a few weeks each spring and autumn when the two countries change clocks on different dates. SafeOunce conversion.
This page prints single dated prices and no daily table for a reason. The LBMA states: "A licence from IBA is required in order to obtain, use or redistribute real-time or historical benchmark data."
How the LBMA Gold Price Is Set Today: Electronic Auctions at 10:30 and 15:00 London Time#
Since March 20, 2015, the LBMA Gold Price has been set twice each London business day in an electronic auction that starts at 10:30 and 15:00 London time. The auction runs in 30-second rounds until buying and selling are within 10,000 ounces of each other. The source is IBA's gold and silver methodology of January 2026, which says:
The imbalance is the gap between ounces wanted and ounces offered. A direct participant is a firm that trades in the auction in its own name. One auction round has 5 steps, listed below.
- Queue orders in the 30 minutes before the start ("Round Zero", with no price yet).
- Read the price IBA publishes for the round.
- Enter how many ounces you would buy or sell at that price, within 30 seconds.
- Wait while the system compares total buying with total selling.
- Stop if the gap is within 10,000 ounces. If it is wider, IBA adjusts the price and a new round starts.
In dollars, 10,000 ounces was about $41.4 million of gold at the September 28, 2026 LBMA Gold Price PM of $4,144.55.
The table below counts the firms on IBA's published participant list.
| Gold auction participants (as of October 2, 2026) | Count | Names |
|---|---|---|
| Direct participants | 15 | Bank of China, Citibank, Coins 'N Things, DRW Investments, Goldman Sachs, HSBC Bank USA, Jane Street, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Koch Supply and Trading, Marex, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, StoneX, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Virtu Financial |
| Indirect participants (clients of a direct participant) | 5 | DV Trading, Edgewater Markets, Koch Commodities Europe, Techemet Metal Trading, Tenn Trading |
SafeOunce count of the participant table on ice.com, read October 2, 2026. The list changes.
Older descriptions of the "gold fix" no longer apply. From 1919, a small group of bullion firms agreed the price among themselves, and older texts describe a few banks on a conference line. Today firms enter orders on a trading platform that keeps "a full audit history" (IBA).
The auction starts at 10:30, not 11:00. It finds the price at which buying and selling balance, not an average. The price forms in US dollars, and IBA also publishes it in British pounds and euros.
How the LBMA Silver Price Is Set Today: One Auction at 12:00 London Time#
The LBMA Silver Price is set once each London business day in an electronic auction that starts at 12:00 noon London time, run by IBA since autumn 2017. The rounds last 30 seconds, as in gold. The imbalance threshold is "normally ... 500,000 oz for silver" under IBA's gold and silver methodology of January 2026.
In dollars, 500,000 ounces was about $30.7 million of silver at the September 28, 2026 LBMA Silver Price of $61.33. IBA's list showed 14 direct and 3 indirect silver participants on October 2, 2026.
How the LBMA Platinum and Palladium Prices Are Set Today: Electronic Auctions at 9:45 and 14:00 London Time, Not Telephone Calls#
The LBMA Platinum and Palladium Prices are set twice each London business day in electronic auctions at 9:45 and 14:00 London time, run by IBA since July 1, 2026. Palladium follows as soon as the platinum auction ends. IBA's platinum and palladium methodology of July 2026 sets this out:
Trades between direct participants are made "at the final auction price plus 0.50 U.S. dollars per oz (known as the seller's premium)". The table below sets the old method, a common description still online and today's method side by side.
| Point | Before December 1, 2014 | A common description still online | Today (IBA methodology, July 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| How | Fixing among member firms of the London Platinum and Palladium Fixing Company | "set via telephone calls" | Electronic auction on WebICE, IBA's trading platform |
| When | Twice a day | "9:45 UTC" and "14:00 UTC" | 9:45 and 14:00 London time (08:45 and 13:00 UTC during British Summer Time) |
| Administrator | The fixing company | Not stated | IBA since July 1, 2026 (London Metal Exchange from December 1, 2014 to June 30, 2026) |
| UK regulator | Not applicable | "Financial Services Authority" | Financial Conduct Authority |
| Participants | Member firms (number not confirmed in a primary source) | Not stated | 7 direct participants on October 2, 2026: BASF Metals, Goldman Sachs, HSBC Bank USA, ICBC Standard Bank, Johnson Matthey, Marex, StoneX |
Compiled by SafeOunce from the IBA methodology, the IBA participant list read October 2, 2026 and the LBMA OTC Guide. The auction's imbalance thresholds sit in a separate IBA specification that we have not read, so none is printed here.
The platinum benchmark is the reference price behind the bars and coins in a platinum IRA.
Spot Price vs Futures Price of Gold: What Is the Difference?#
The spot price is for gold delivered now, and the futures price is the price agreed today for gold delivered in a later month. The front month is the nearest contract with heavy trading. The table below compares the 2 prices on 4 points.
| Point | Spot | COMEX futures |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery | Now, in London, in large bars | In a named future month |
| Where it trades | Between firms, over the counter | On an exchange |
| Size | Good Delivery bars of 350 to 430 ounces | 100 ounces per contract (Rule 113101) |
| What savers see | The "spot" on charts and dealer sites | The "gold futures" number in the news |
For a retirement saver the point is simple: neither number is a price you can buy a coin at.
Why gold futures usually trade above spot#
Gold futures usually trade a little above spot because the buyer pays later, while the seller pays interest and storage until delivery. Interest plus storage is called the carrying cost.
On September 29, 2026, the nearest COMEX contract traded near $4,181 while one spot feed showed $4,149.80, a gap of about 0.75%. The two readings were taken at different minutes, so treat the gap as a rough guide.
In 2025, tariff fears pushed New York futures well above London prices and pulled metal into New York vaults. The Silver Institute's World Silver Survey 2026 counts about 225 million ounces of silver added to CME vaults between December 2024 and early October 2025.
Which gold record is the real one? January 29, 2026 in 4 numbers#
Gold's record on January 29, 2026 was $5,405.00 on the LBMA Gold Price PM, but 3 other prices for the same day run as high as $5,608.35. Intraday means the highest or lowest trade during a day. The table below lists the 4 numbers.
| Price series | January 29, 2026 | Above the LBMA PM |
|---|---|---|
| LBMA Gold Price PM | $5,405.00 | Not applicable |
| LBMA Gold Price AM | $5,501.70 | $96.70 (1.8%) |
| COMEX futures, intraday high | $5,586.20 | $181.20 (3.4%) |
| Intraday spot high, as reported by Money.com | $5,608.35 | $203.35 (3.8%) |
LBMA prices from the LBMA price file. The intraday spot figure is a press report, not a benchmark. Gaps computed by SafeOunce.
All 4 are real. A headline that says "gold hit $5,600" quotes the intraday high, not the benchmark. SafeOunce always names the series.
The LBMA Gold Price PM then fell 26.1% to its 2026 low of $3,993.55 on July 16. On September 28, 2026 it was $4,144.55, which is 23.3% below the record. Year-by-year numbers are in our table of gold returns by year.
Why Do You Pay More Than the Spot Price of Gold?#
You pay more than the spot price because spot is for huge wholesale bars, and a coin or small bar adds minting, shipping, insurance and the dealer's profit. The amount above the metal's value is called the premium, or the markup. The premium over spot pays for the 4 things listed below.
- Minting or refining: turning a large bar into a small coin or bar.
- Distribution: shipping and insurance from the mint to the dealer and on to the vault.
- The dealer's margin: the seller's own costs and profit.
- Scarcity: how hard that product is to get that week.
What sellers add in an IRA is the subject of our page on gold IRA markups and spreads.
This page measures the premium over spot: premium (%) = (price you pay minus spot) divided by spot. The CFTC's customer advisory of August 4, 2020 divides by the sales price instead: "(sales price - spot price) / sales price x 100".
The method changes the number. A 3.03% premium over spot is 2.94% of the sales price. A 40% premium is 28.6%, and a 200% premium is 66.7%. Ask which method a seller uses.
Spot is a wholesale price for 400-ounce bars#
The spot price refers to gold in Good Delivery bars of about 400 troy ounces, not to a one-ounce coin. The table below shows what trades at each level and what it was worth on one day.
| What trades | Size | Value at the LBMA prices of September 28, 2026 (gold PM $4,144.55; silver $61.33) |
|---|---|---|
| London Good Delivery gold bar | 350 to 430 ounces (about 400) | About $1,657,820 at 400 ounces |
| One COMEX gold contract | 100 ounces | $414,455 |
| One COMEX silver contract | 5,000 ounces | $306,650 |
| One American Gold Eagle | 1 ounce of gold | $4,144.55 of metal, before any premium |
The bar standard is called Good Delivery. Retail IRA bars are not Good Delivery bars: they are far smaller and carry a premium.
What 5 gold products cost over spot on one day#
On September 29, 2026, 5 common one-ounce gold products cost 1.8% to 5.7% more than spot at one online dealer. The ask is the price you pay, and the bid is the price the dealer pays you. Each ask is set against the spot price shown on the same page load.
| Product (1 ounce) | Ask (you pay) | Spot on the same page load | Over spot | Bid (dealer pays) | Loss if sold back at once |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PAMP Suisse bar | $4,230.68 | $4,156.39 | 1.79% | $4,009.93 | 5.22% |
| Gold Britannia | $4,260.68 | $4,153.88 | 2.57% | $4,009.93 | 5.89% |
| American Gold Eagle | $4,280.53 | $4,154.51 | 3.03% | $4,049.93 | 5.39% |
| Canadian Gold Maple Leaf | $4,282.45 | $4,153.88 | 3.10% | $4,034.93 | 5.78% |
| American Gold Buffalo | $4,391.80 | $4,154.51 | 5.71% | $4,064.93 | 7.44% |
One online dealer's public price pages (SD Bullion), September 29, 2026, lowest wire price for 1 to 19 pieces. Asks and spot come from one page load per product. Bids were read from the dealer's sell page at about 10:20 UTC, when its header showed gold near $4,159; the sell page may lag. In a separate read at a spot of $4,159.52, the same Eagle price was 2.91% over spot. A reference point, not a recommendation. Prices change by the minute.
The same ounce of gold cost $161 more as a Buffalo than as a small bar. The CFTC's 2020 advisory describes far higher premiums on collector coins (see the last table of the $100,000 example). Ask for the percent over spot in writing.
Can you buy gold at spot price?#
No, you cannot buy gold at spot price as a normal purchase. The CFTC's guide for metals buyers says: "A dealer will always sell metal above the spot price and buy it back below the spot price." The sentence comes from "10 Things to Ask Before Buying Physical Gold, Silver, or Other Metals", published by the CFTC and FINRA on March 20, 2024.
"At spot" offers are limited promotions, often one small purchase for a new customer. Treat such an offer as an advertisement for later sales, and compare the price of the next coin you are offered.
In an IRA, your custodian pays the dealer's ask price, never spot.
When you sell gold, do you get the spot price?#
No. A dealer's buy-back price, called the bid, is normally below spot: about 2.3% to 3.6% below for the 5 products above on September 29, 2026. That range uses the spot near $4,159 shown on the dealer's page when the bids were read. Every dealer quotes two prices, the bid and ask.
The gap between what you pay and what you get back is the round-trip cost. It ran from 5.2% to 7.4% in that snapshot.
No dealer has to buy your metal back at any set price. Selling metal inside an IRA also has its own steps, because the custodian carries out the sale on your instruction.
From Spot Price to Your Gold IRA Statement: A $100,000 Example#
A gold IRA statement values your coins near the spot price of the metal, so it shows less than you paid from the first day. That gap is not a custodian error and not a market loss. It is the premium you paid and the dealer's buy-back gap, made visible.
Every gold IRA works this way, whichever company sells the metal.
What the statement shows on day one#
If $100,000 buys one-ounce Gold Eagles at a 3.03% premium, the metal is worth about $97,056 at spot the same minute. Melt value means ounces of pure metal times spot. The table below walks through the numbers.
| Step | Number (prices of September 29, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Price per coin (ask), spot and premium | $4,280.53 ask; $4,154.51 spot; 3.03% premium |
| Gold bought with $100,000 | 23.362 ounces |
| Value at spot (melt value) | $97,056 |
| What the same dealer would pay that day (bid $4,049.93) | $94,613, which is 5.4% less than you paid |
| Rise in gold needed to get back to $100,000 | 3.03% at melt value (spot at $4,280.53); about 5.7% at the same dealer's bid |
SafeOunce computation from one dealer's public prices; custodian and storage fees not included.
So a first statement near $97,000 is what an honest, low-premium purchase looks like.
Each line of a gold IRA statement is explained on its own page.
How custodians value IRA metal#
IRA custodians value metal from a price feed, not from your invoice, and each names its own source. The table below quotes 3 custodians' own documents.
| Custodian (document, date) | What its statement value is based on |
|---|---|
| Equity Trust (Precious Metals Risk and Fee Disclosure, CA_F-0003-05, Rev. 121625) | The previous day's value for that metal type; it "does not include any markups, commissions or premiums from the precious metals dealer" |
| The Entrust Group (precious metals page, 2026) | "The daily spot price", which it also calls "the melt value" |
| Directed IRA, Directed Trust Company (precious metals investment form, August 2025) | A bid price based on CME Group data |
Custodians named only as sources of published documents, read September 29, 2026.
The same kind of value goes on Form 5498 at year-end. Form 5498 is the yearly report your custodian sends to the IRS and to you. That value is also the base for required minimum distributions (RMDs), the yearly withdrawals the tax code requires later in life.
The year-end rules for how gold IRA metals are valued decide your RMD amount.
What a higher markup does to the day-one value#
The higher the premium over spot, the lower the first statement: at a 40% premium, $100,000 buys about $71,429 of metal. Numismatic coins are collector coins priced far above their metal. The table below applies the CFTC's own premium ranges to $100,000.
| Premium over spot | Metal value of $100,000 on day one | Source of the range |
|---|---|---|
| 3% (a round figure; the 3.03% snapshot above gives $97,056) | $97,087 | Low-premium bullion snapshot above |
| 5% | $95,238 | CFTC: bullion "5% to 10% over spot" |
| 10% | $90,909 | Same range |
| 40% | $71,429 | CFTC: numismatic coins "40% to 200%" over spot |
| 100% | $50,000 | Same range |
| 200% | $33,333 | Same range |
Metal value = $100,000 divided by (1 + premium). SafeOunce computation from the ranges in CFTC customer advisory 8215-20 (August 4, 2020). The ranges describe what the CFTC observed, not what any one company charges today.
Ask one question before any money moves: what percent over spot is this coin, and what would you pay me for it today?
Is the Spot Price of Gold Manipulated?#
Traders have been caught manipulating gold prices for short periods, and one bank paid $920.2 million for it in 2020. The case does not describe a years-long scheme that holds the gold price down.
On September 29, 2020, the CFTC ordered JPMorgan Chase & Company and 2 subsidiaries to pay $920.2 million (CFTC press release 8260-20; order in CFTC Docket No. 20-69). The CFTC found conduct "from at least 2008 through 2016". Traders "placed hundreds of thousands of orders to buy or sell" gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures "with the intent to cancel those orders prior to execution".
The outcome: the case settled. The bank consented to the order "without admitting or denying" the CFTC's findings, except as admitted in its related agreement with the Department of Justice. The table below splits the total into its 3 parts.
| Part of the order (CFTC Docket No. 20-69) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Restitution (money paid back to harmed traders) | $311,737,008 |
| Disgorgement (giving back gains) | $172,034,790 |
| Civil penalty | $436,431,811 |
| Total | $920,203,609 |
Since March 20, 2015, the gold auction is electronic, IBA publishes a price for each round, and its platform keeps "a full audit history". That does not prove that manipulation is over.
What Else Changes the Price on a Gold IRA Quote?#
Spot is only the first number on a gold IRA quote. The premium, the yearly fees, the metal you choose and the forces that move spot itself all change what you end up with. The 4 topics below pick up where the spot price stops.
- Markups and spreads by product type: bullion coins and collector coins carry very different premiums, as the table above shows.
- The forces that move spot: what moves gold and silver prices from month to month is a different question from who quotes them.
- Central banks: central bank gold buying took 863 tonnes in 2025, which is 17.3% of all gold demand (World Gold Council).
- The law: the history of gold in IRAs shows when each metal was allowed in.
Spot price of silver, platinum and palladium#
Silver, platinum and palladium each have a spot price made the same way as gold's: by wholesale trading, futures and a London benchmark auction. The table below gives one dated benchmark for each metal.
| Metal | LBMA benchmark on September 28, 2026 | US futures contract |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | $4,144.55 (PM) | COMEX, 100 ounces |
| Silver | $61.33 | COMEX, 5,000 ounces |
| Platinum | $1,731.85 (PM) | NYMEX; size not in our verified data |
| Palladium | $1,219.25 (PM) | NYMEX; size not in our verified data |
Reference prices, not live quotes.
The LBMA Silver Price record is $118.45, set on January 29, 2026, while COMEX silver futures reached $121.30 intraday that day. A London Good Delivery silver bar weighs 750 to 1,100 ounces.
Silver costs more to trade in percent. A round trip cost 14.6% on a Silver Eagle against 5.39% on a Gold Eagle at the same dealer on September 29, 2026. Higher premiums in percent are one cost of a silver IRA. The two spot prices together give the gold-to-silver ratio.
Questions readers ask about the spot price of gold#
Five short questions come up again and again about the spot price of gold.
What is the difference between spot price and market price?#
The spot price is the wholesale price of the metal, and the market or retail price is spot plus the premium on the coin or bar you are buying. That extra amount is the premium over spot.
What is the difference between spot price and scrap price?#
A scrap price is what a buyer pays for impure gold such as old jewelry, and it sits below the melt value because the buyer must still refine the metal. Pure ounces times spot is the melt value. Scrap and jewelry cannot go into an IRA.
What is the highest spot price for gold ever?#
The highest London benchmark was $5,405.00, the LBMA Gold Price PM of January 29, 2026; intraday futures reached $5,586.20 that day. That record stood as of September 28, 2026.
What is 1 oz of gold worth right now?#
This page shows no live price; the last reference price we checked was $4,144.55 per troy ounce, the LBMA Gold Price PM of September 28, 2026. A one-ounce coin costs a few percent more than that and sells back for a few percent less.
Who is the largest buyer of gold right now?#
Among central banks, Poland was the largest buyer: 102 tonnes in 2025 and 51 tonnes in the second quarter of 2026, the World Gold Council reports. Central banks as a group made 863 tonnes of net purchases in 2025, which is buying minus selling. The Council's Gold Demand Trends reports show 1,092.4 tonnes for 2024 and 345 tonnes for the first half of 2026, as published by July 30, 2026.