Gold and Silver Prices Today

How 24-hour gold and silver prices keep moving

The gold and silver spot price is a live quote that runs almost around the clock, from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon in New York time. When the U.S. is asleep, trading in Asia and London keeps both metals moving, so 24-hour gold and silver prices rarely sit still between sessions.

What did gold and silver close at today?

The answer depends on which close you mean. There is the COMEX settlement in the early afternoon, the 5 p.m. ET end of the electronic trading day, and the London auctions earlier in the morning. Financial news often reports the settlement; charts often use the 5 p.m. price. Both are real closes, and they can differ by a noticeable amount on a busy day.

Where the overnight trading happens

During U.S. evening hours, much of the activity comes from Asia. The Shanghai Gold Exchange quotes gold in yuan per gram, and China’s import rules mean its price can sit above or below the dollar spot price converted at the exchange rate. Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo also trade actively. London takes over in the early morning, New York time, and the heaviest volume of the day usually comes when London and New York overlap.

Weekends and holidays

From Friday’s 5 p.m. close to Sunday’s 6 p.m. open, there is no market, and spot stays frozen at the last trade. Any “weekend price” quoted by a seller is its own number, often with extra margin built in to cover the risk of a gap when trading resumes. U.S. and U.K. holidays shorten sessions or close them entirely; the gold market hours page lists the schedule.

Gold vs silver price: what the gap means in your hands

The ratio sounds abstract until you picture the metal. Take an example ratio of 100 to 1, with gold at $3,000 and silver at $30 per ounce.

1. $3,000 buys one troy ounce of gold, a coin about the size of a half dollar.
2. The same $3,000 buys 100 troy ounces of silver.
3. 100 troy ounces is 3,110 grams, about 6.9 pounds on a bathroom scale.
4. Storage, shipping and insurance for silver therefore cost more per dollar held.

Why silver premiums look bigger

A mint spends about the same effort striking a one-ounce silver coin as a one-ounce gold coin, but the silver coin is worth a small fraction as much. Fixed costs make up a larger share of its price, so the premium over spot on silver coins and bars is usually higher in percentage terms than on gold. The American Silver Eagle is a clear example.

The ratio at its extremes

When the U.S. Mint opened in the 1790s, the law fixed gold at 15 times the value of silver by weight. Free markets have pushed the ratio far from that. It dropped into the low 30s in April 2011, when silver neared $50, and spiked above 100 in March 2020, when silver sold off harder than gold in the pandemic panic.

Gold and silver prices per gram

To see both metals per gram, divide each ounce price by 31.1035. With the example prices above, gold works out to $96.45 per gram and silver to $0.9645 per gram. The ratio stays 100 to 1, because both prices are divided by the same number. Per-gram figures are handy for jewelry, but bullion coins and bars are nearly always priced per ounce in the U.S.

Working out the ratio yourself

Divide the gold price per ounce by the silver price per ounce. Using grams gives the same answer, since both prices are converted by the same 31.1035 factor. The result only compares the two metals. It says nothing about whether either one is cheap in dollar terms.

Why did gold and silver drop today?

When both metals fall together, the cause is usually something that hits all dollar-priced assets. Common triggers:

• A stronger U.S. dollar, which makes metal more expensive for buyers paying in other currencies.
• Rising real interest rates, which raise the cost of holding an asset that pays no interest.
• Higher margin requirements on futures, which force leveraged traders to sell.
• Weak manufacturing data, which hits silver harder because of its use in solar panels and electronics.
• Profit-taking after a strong run, when traders lock in gains before a weekend or a major data release.

Checking whether it was a big move

A $30 drop in gold sounds large but may be under 1% of the price, while a 50-cent drop in silver can be a bigger percentage move. Compare percentages, not dollars, when judging which metal had the worse day. The change figures at the top of this page are shown both ways for that reason.

News that moves both at a set time

Several scheduled U.S. releases reliably jolt both metals: the monthly jobs report on the first Friday, the consumer price index, and Federal Reserve rate decisions with the press conference that follows. Prices often swing within seconds of those releases, so a “drop today” is sometimes just a reaction to a single number.

Days when they split

Sometimes gold rises while silver falls. That usually means the market is buying safety and selling growth: gold benefits from fear, while silver’s industrial side suffers from expectations of slower factory output. The ratio jumps on those days. The reverse, silver outrunning gold, tends to happen in strong economies with rising commodity prices.

A longer explanation of these drivers is on why gold goes up or down.

Spot, futures and ETF quotes compared

“Gold and silver prices” can mean several different numbers. Knowing which one you are looking at avoids confusion.

Why futures sit above spot

Futures for later delivery normally trade a little above spot, reflecting the interest and storage cost of holding metal until then. This is called contango. The gap is small for nearby months and grows for later ones. Our gold futures page explains contract months and rollover.

Why an ETF share is not an ounce

Each share of a metal ETF represents a fraction of an ounce, and that fraction shrinks slowly as the fund sells metal to pay its expense ratio. Multiply the share price by the ounces per share, published by the fund, to compare it with spot. More on these funds is on the gold ETFs page.

For a single metal at a time, the gold spot price page explains how the gold quote is built.

The headline figure for gold, with its daily change, is on today’s gold price page.

Silver’s own quote, chart and purity values sit on the silver price today page.