{"id":20302,"date":"2026-10-05T05:46:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/glossary\/bid-ask-spread\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T06:48:39","slug":"bid-ask-spread","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/glossary\/bid-ask-spread\/","title":{"rendered":"Bid-Ask Spread"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mrf-gl\"><p class=\"gl-def\">The bid-ask spread is the difference between the price a dealer sells gold to you (ask) and the price it pays to buy it back (bid). It is your round-trip cost of owning bullion.<\/p><aside class=\"panel gl-live\"><p class=\"gl-live-h\">\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddea Today in the UAE<\/p><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Gold, 1 troy ounce (spot)<\/span><b>15,253 AED<\/b><\/div><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Cheapest 1 oz gold coin: <a href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/product\/1-oz-krugerrand-gold-coin\/\">1 oz Krugerrand Gold Coin<\/a><\/span><b>16,115.59 AED<\/b> <small>+5.7% premium<\/small><\/div><p class=\"gl-src\">Data as of 05.10.2026, updated daily.<\/p><a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/cheapest-gold-coins\/\">Compare gold coin prices \u203a<\/a><\/aside><div class=\"gl-body\"><h2>Two prices for the same bar<\/h2>\n<p>Every dealer quotes two numbers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ask (sell price):<\/strong> what you pay to buy. It sits above the <a href=\"spot-price}}\">spot price<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bid (buy back price):<\/strong> what the dealer pays you. It usually sits at or below spot.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The gap between them is the spread. If you buy and then sell on the same day, the spread is roughly what you lose.<\/p>\n<h3>Example with round numbers<\/h3>\n<p>Say a dealer sells a 1 oz bar at AED 11,350 and buys it back at AED 10,950 (illustrative figures). The spread is AED 400, or about 3.5% of the ask. Gold has to rise by that much before you break even. With a TT bar at a tighter spread, the break even point comes sooner.<\/p>\n<h2>How the spread looks in the UAE<\/h2>\n<p>Dubai is a busy, liquid market, and buy back is easy for well known products. What affects your spread:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Product:<\/strong> TT bars, kilobars and major coins from recognised refiners and mints get the best bids.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Condition:<\/strong> scratched coins or bars without packaging may be bought at a discount.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jewellery:<\/strong> when you sell 21K or 22K jewellery you get the gold value only; making charges and the 5% VAT you paid are not returned.<\/li>\n<li><strong>VAT:<\/strong> investment metal of 99% purity is zero-rated both ways, while 5% paid on a 22 carat coin is a cost you do not recover as a private seller.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Identity checks:<\/strong> large cash sales go through dealer AML checks, so bring your Emirates ID or passport.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>How to keep the round trip cheap<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Buy standard products:<\/strong> recognised bars and bullion coins, ideally from refiners on a <a href=\"lbma}}\">Good Delivery list<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask for the buy back price first:<\/strong> a dealer that quotes both prices openly is easier to trust.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Look at the entry premium:<\/strong> the lowest <a href=\"premium}}\">premium over spot<\/a> narrows the spread from your side.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hold for longer:<\/strong> the spread is a one-off cost, so it matters less over years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Our <a href=\"\/ae\/cheapest-gold-coins\/\">AED ranking of gold coin offers<\/a> handles the buying side, and the <a href=\"\/ae\/dealers\/\">list of dealers serving the UAE<\/a> helps you find who else quotes the same product.<\/p><\/div><h2>Related terms<\/h2><p class=\"gl-chips\"><a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/glossary\/premium-over-spot\/\">Premium over Spot<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/glossary\/spot-price\/\">Spot Price<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/glossary\/lbma-good-delivery\/\">LBMA Good Delivery<\/a><\/p><section class=\"mrf-faq\"><h2>FAQ<\/h2><div class=\"faq-list\"><details open><summary><h3>How much do you lose when selling gold in Dubai?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>You lose roughly the spread between the dealer's sell and buy back prices, plus any making charges or VAT you paid that are not refunded.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Do jewellers in the UAE buy back gold at the full rate?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>No, jewellers pay for the gold content at their buy back rate and do not refund making charges.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Which gold has the smallest spread?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>Larger standard bars and widely known bullion coins usually have the smallest spread because dealers can resell them easily.<\/p><\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section><details class=\"gl-src-list\"><summary>Sources<\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/uaefiu.gov.ae\/media\/igjeqjap\/dealers-in-precious-metals-and-stones-october-2022.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UAE Financial Intelligence Unit: Dealers in Precious Metals and Stones<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tax.gov.ae\/Datafolder\/Files\/Legislation\/Executive%20Regulation%20of%20Federal%20Decree%20Law%20No%208%20of%202017%20-%20Publish%2017112022.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Federal Tax Authority: Executive Regulation of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on VAT (Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017)<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":20238,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-20302","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/"},"comment_info":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20390,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20302\/revisions\/20390"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}