What Does Gold Spot Price Mean?

When buying or selling gold for cash or as an investment you will often hear the phrase “gold spot price” or “spot price”. The term comes from traders on commodity exchanges settling on a price right there on the spot. These might be markets in London, New York, Tokyo or any other commodity or financial exchange in the world. These spot prices are used by a number of people when dealing in gold, including gold jewelry. If I call a distributor and ask to buy 100 gold chains, I am quoted a price based on the spot price that day and the weight of the jewelry. There is more added to the price, like mark up, but that is where the price figuring starts. When prices are mentioned about gold they are quoted per ounce. That is a TROY ounce, not a US ounce. There are 31.1 grams to a troy ounce. As I am writing this, the spot price of gold is $820.00 US per ounce.