Gold Price Per Ounce: the Troy Ounce Number Behind Everything
$4,048.80 per troy ounce of pure gold
$130.17 per gram · $202.44 per pennyweight
Gold spot $4,048.80/oz · updated
Quick answer: Gold is $4,048.80 per troy ounce as of October 28, 2026. That single number is the anchor for every other price on this site: divide it by 31.1034768 for the gram price of $130.17, or by 20 for the pennyweight price of $202.44. If you only remember one thing, remember that the ounce in gold quotes is the troy ounce, which weighs more than the ounce in your kitchen.
Why gold is weighed in troy ounces
Precious metals kept an older system of weights that predates the pound-and-ounce units used for flour and postage. One troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams. The common avoirdupois ounce is 28.3495 grams. The troy ounce is about 9.7% heavier, and that gap is small enough to be easy to forget and large enough to cost real money.
Here is how the mix-up plays out. Picture two ounces of gold read off a food scale. Those are about 56.7 g, which is only about 1.82 troy ounces, and pricing that weight as two full troy ounces would overstate its value by $716.98. The reverse error, pricing troy ounces as if they were kitchen ounces, undersells the metal. Whenever a quote says "per ounce" for gold, assume troy and check that your scale is set to grams before you do anything else.
One ounce, three other units
Converting is a matter of dividing, so the table below keeps the anchor at 24K and shows each unit side by side at the live price.
| Unit | Grams | Troy oz | Pure gold | 18K | 14K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gram | 1.0000 g | 0.0322 | $130.17 | $97.63 | $75.93 |
| Pennyweight (dwt) | 1.5552 g | 0.0500 | $202.44 | $151.83 | $118.09 |
| Troy ounce | 31.1035 g | 1.0000 | $4,048.80 | $3,036.60 | $2,361.80 |
| Avoirdupois (kitchen) ounce | 28.3495 g | 0.9115 | $3,690.31 | $2,767.73 | $2,152.68 |
| Tola | 11.6638 g | 0.3750 | $1,518.30 | $1,138.72 | $885.67 |
| Kilogram | 1,000.0000 g | 32.1507 | $130,172 | $97,629 | $75,934 |
The per-gram figure is where most jewelry shoppers end up, since tags and scales are metric. Our price per gram page extends the same idea down the karat ladder, so a 14K ring is not priced as if it were pure. Jewelers and pawn counters often prefer the pennyweight, a twentieth of a troy ounce; the price per pennyweight page has a karat-by-karat conversion table for that scale.
Spot versus futures: which "ounce" are you looking at?
There are two ways the market writes down a gold price, and they are close without being identical.
- Spot is the price for immediate delivery. The big number at the top of this page is spot, at $4,048.80.
- Futures are contracts for delivery on a later date. The most-watched is the COMEX gold contract, whose latest close in our feed is $4,061.60.
The difference between the two on the latest reading is +$12.80, or 0.3% of spot. Part of that gap reflects the time value built into a contract and part reflects when each number was captured, because futures settle at a set time while spot ticks continuously. That is why the line on our charts, which plots futures closes, can differ slightly from the hero number printed above it. Neither is wrong. They answer different questions.
Bars and coins, counted in ounces
Most physical gold is sold in ounce-sized units, which makes this page the natural place to see what the metal alone is worth at each size. The figures below are gold-content values at spot, before any dealer premium.
- A one-ounce bar holds $4,048.80 of gold.
- A ten-ounce bar holds $40,488.
- A one-kilogram bar (32.1507 troy ounces) holds $130,159.
- A 400-ounce good delivery bar, the size stored in vaults and used between refiners, holds $1,619,520.
- A one-ounce American Gold Eagle contains $4,048.80 of gold, even though the coin weighs more than an ounce in total.
That last point surprises people. The Eagle weighs 33.931 g because it is 22K, about 91.7% gold, with the rest being copper and silver for durability. The coin is still guaranteed to hold exactly one troy ounce of gold. Our 22K page goes through why.
How many ounces is a $50,000 order?
This is a question that matters for one specific kind of reader. Augusta Precious Metals, the company we recommend on this site, sets a $50,000 minimum for any initial purchase. At today's spot, a $50,000 order is about 12.3 troy ounces of gold before premium. If you are weighing a single one-ounce coin, that is useful context in a different direction: the minimum exists because Augusta's process is built around larger orders, and a single coin is better bought elsewhere.
This button requests Augusta's free Gold & Silver IRA information kit. After you submit the request, Augusta will phone you.
What an ounce price cannot tell you
The ounce price is a wholesale benchmark, not a shelf price. Anyone buying a coin or bar pays spot plus a premium; anyone selling pays or receives something below spot once testing, refining and margin are accounted for. The number also says nothing about the direction gold will take next, and it carries no information about a piece's purity or hidden weight. If you want the long view, the price history page puts the current ounce price inside fifty years of data, and the sister view on our gold value chart home page shows the one-year line next to today's figure. For a worked comparison of premium over spot, see our where to buy gold guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is the price per ounce the same everywhere?
The benchmark is shared, but the price you pay is not. Dealers add a premium for minting, distribution and profit, and that premium varies with the product. A large bar usually carries a smaller percentage premium than a single small coin.
Why does gold use troy ounces instead of regular ounces?
The troy system dates back centuries and became the standard for precious metals. It stuck because the whole trade, from mines to refiners to exchanges, already prices in it. Switching would mean rewriting every contract.
What is the difference between spot and the futures price?
Spot is for delivery now; futures are contracts for later. They usually sit close together. Our feed shows a latest gap of +$12.80, and the home page chart plots futures closes while the headline number is spot.
How many grams are in an ounce of gold?
A troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams. An ordinary avoirdupois ounce is 28.3495 grams. If you divide the troy ounce price by 31.1034768 you get the gram price, as in the gram table.
Does a one-ounce coin contain exactly one ounce of gold?
Bullion coins like the American Gold Eagle do. The Eagle and the Krugerrand are 22K and weigh more than an ounce in total, so that their gold content is exactly one troy ounce. The Buffalo and Maple Leaf are nearly pure and weigh close to an ounce.
Should I read the ounce price as advice to buy or sell?
No. It is a measurement. It tells you the current price of the metal and nothing about whether that price is high or low for your needs.
Data sources: Spot price via api.gold-api.com · COMEX futures (GC=F) via Yahoo Finance. Prices are for informational purposes only and may be delayed. Figures on this page were generated . Gold is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce.