{"id":20281,"date":"2026-10-05T05:45:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/glossary\/spot-price\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T06:47:09","slug":"spot-price","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/glossary\/spot-price\/","title":{"rendered":"Spot Price"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mrf-gl\"><p class=\"gl-def\">The spot price is the current wholesale price of one troy ounce of a precious metal for immediate delivery. It is traded mainly in London and on futures exchanges, quoted in US dollars, and shown in pounds by converting at the GBP\/USD rate.<\/p><aside class=\"panel gl-live\"><p class=\"gl-live-h\">\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 Today in the UK<\/p><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Gold, 1 troy ounce (spot)<\/span><b>\u00a33,145<\/b><\/div><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Cheapest 1 oz gold coin: <a href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/product\/1-oz-krugerrand-gold-coin\/\">1 oz Krugerrand Gold Coin<\/a><\/span><b>\u00a33,173.61<\/b> <small>+0.9% premium<\/small><\/div><p class=\"gl-src\">Data as of 05.10.2026, updated daily.<\/p><a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/cheapest-gold-coins\/\">Compare gold coin prices \u203a<\/a><\/aside><div class=\"gl-body\"><h2>Where the spot price comes from<\/h2><p>There is no single official spot price. It is the live price at which banks and large traders buy and sell metal in the wholesale market. For gold, that market is centred on London, where trades are settled &quot;loco London&quot; in vaults in the city, alongside futures trading in New York and Shanghai. Price feeds take the best bid and offer from these markets and update every few seconds.<\/p><p>The spot price is quoted per <a href=\"troy-ounce}}\">troy ounce<\/a> in US dollars. A UK chart in pounds simply divides the dollar price by the GBP\/USD exchange rate. This means the gold price in sterling can rise on a day when gold is flat in dollars, if the pound weakens.<\/p><h3>Spot price vs the LBMA Gold Price<\/h3><p>The LBMA Gold Price is a benchmark set twice a day in London, at 10:30 and 15:00 London time, through an electronic auction run by ICE Benchmark Administration. It is published in dollars, with sterling and euro versions. Contracts and valuations often use it, while the spot price moves all day. See <a href=\"lbma}}\">LBMA Good Delivery<\/a> for more on the London market.<\/p><h2>Why you cannot buy at spot<\/h2><p>Spot is the price for large wholesale amounts, typically 400 oz bars traded between banks. A retail coin has to be minted, shipped, insured, stored and sold, and the dealer needs a margin. All of that is added as the <a href=\"premium}}\">premium over spot<\/a>. A dealer's buying price for your metal will usually sit below or near spot, and the gap between the two is the <a href=\"spread}}\">bid-ask spread<\/a>.<\/p><h3>Worked example with fixed numbers<\/h3><p>Take a spot price of $2,000 per ounce and an exchange rate of $1.25 to the pound (round figures, not today's prices). Spot in sterling is \u00a31,600 per ounce. A full Sovereign holds 0.2354 oz of gold, so its metal value at spot is 0.2354 x \u00a31,600 = \u00a3376.64. Any Sovereign price above that is premium.<\/p><h2>Using spot in the UK<\/h2><p>Follow the <a href=\"\/gb\/charts\/gold-price\/\">live gold price chart in pounds<\/a> to see where spot is, then check the <a href=\"\/gb\/cheapest-gold-coins\/\">ranking of gold coins by delivered price<\/a> to see how far above spot each dealer sells. Comparing the premium in percent is more useful than comparing shops on a single day's price.<\/p><\/div><h2>Related terms<\/h2><p class=\"gl-chips\"><a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/glossary\/premium-over-spot\/\">Premium Over Spot<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/glossary\/bid-ask-spread\/\">Bid-Ask Spread<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/glossary\/lbma-good-delivery\/\">LBMA Good Delivery<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/glossary\/troy-ounce\/\">Troy Ounce<\/a><\/p><section class=\"mrf-faq\"><h2>FAQ<\/h2><div class=\"faq-list\"><details open><summary><h3>Who sets the gold spot price?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>Nobody sets it; it comes from live trading between banks and dealers in London and on futures exchanges, so it changes throughout the day.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Why is the gold price in pounds different from the dollar price?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>Gold is traded in US dollars, so the sterling price is the dollar price divided by the GBP\/USD exchange rate and moves with both.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Can I buy gold at the spot price in the UK?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>No retail buyer pays spot. Dealers add a premium to cover minting, delivery, insurance and margin, so you always pay something above it.<\/p><\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section><details class=\"gl-src-list\"><summary>Sources<\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lbma.org.uk\/prices-and-data\/lbma-gold-price\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">LBMA: LBMA Gold Price<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ice.com\/iba\/lbma-gold-price\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ICE Benchmark Administration: LBMA Gold Price<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":20233,"menu_order":6,"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-20281","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/"},"comment_info":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20369,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20281\/revisions\/20369"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}