Our premiums and buyback margins are different for gold, silver and platinum because the costs and risks of dealing in each metal are very different.
At a high level:
Gold usually has the tightest spread (closest to spot).
Silver has higher premiums and wider buyback discounts than gold.
Platinum generally has the widest spreads of the three.
Below is why.
Different costs to move, store and insure
Per dollar of value:
Silver is bulkier than gold. The same dollar amount of silver:
takes up much more space,
costs more to store, move and insure, and
usually involves more pieces (tubes/boxes of coins, multiple bars).
Gold is dense and compact, so:
storage and insurance are cheaper per dollar of value, and
it’s easier and cheaper to handle the same dollar amount.
These handling, storage and insurance costs are built into both:
the premium when you buy, and
the discount when you sell back.
Silver simply costs more to handle for each dollar invested, so its spreads must be wider than gold’s.
Market depth and liquidity
The underlying markets are also different:
Gold
Deep, liquid, and traded globally by investors, central banks and institutions.
Dealers can usually turn over gold stock quickly.
This supports tighter buy–sell spreads.
Silver
Liquid, but the wholesale spreads are already wider than gold.
Combined with higher handling costs, this translates into wider retail spreads than gold.
Platinum
A much smaller and less liquid market.
Annual platinum production is roughly 15x lower than gold and 125x lower than silver.
There are fewer buyers and sellers, and turnover is lower.
Dealers need higher margins to offset lower turnover and higher holding costs.
A smaller or less liquid market means we must allow for:
more price movement while we’re holding stock, and
potentially longer time to resell it.
Price volatility and risk
Platinum in particular is strongly linked to industrial demand (for example in automotive and catalytic applications).
This makes prices more volatile than gold, and often more than silver.
Higher volatility requires wider margins to manage risk.
Gold is typically the least volatile of the three major investment metals, so:
dealers can run tighter spreads, and
pricing tends to sit closer to spot in both directions.
How this shows up in our pricing
Because of the factors above:
Gold
Tends to have the tightest premiums above spot and the smallest buyback discounts below spot on standard bullion products.
Silver
Usually has higher retail premiums than gold, and
wider buyback discounts, to cover higher handling, storage and insurance costs.
Platinum
Typically has the highest premiums and largest buyback discounts of the three, reflecting:
higher production and fabrication costs,
a smaller and less liquid market, and
greater price volatility.
The exact spread at any time depends on:
the specific product (bar vs coin, brand, size),
market conditions and volatility, and
wholesale costs at the time.
For current pricing, always refer to:
the live prices on our website, and
our buyback estimator for indicative sellback prices.