Gold Price per Ounce Chart (Live XAU/USD)
LIVEThe gold price per ounce is the spot price of one troy ounce (31.1035 grams) of pure gold in US dollars, quoted as XAU/USD. The live chart below streams that spot quote around the clock on weekdays, so the latest value on the chart is today's gold price per ounce.
Live market data — updates automatically
At a Glance
What this gold chart shows
The main chart plots OANDA:XAUUSD, the spot price of one troy ounce of gold in US dollars. "XAU" is the ISO currency code for gold, so XAU/USD reads exactly like a currency pair: how many dollars one ounce of gold costs. Spot gold trades over the counter almost 24 hours a day from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon (New York time), which is why the chart keeps moving after US stock markets close. The small panels underneath show silver, platinum and Bitcoin for quick comparison.
The quote is a market spot price, not a dealer retail price. Comex gold futures and the twice-daily LBMA Gold Price auction in London track the same underlying market, so they normally sit within a few dollars of the spot line you see here.
How to read the gold price chart
- Find the latest price. The last candle on the right and the label on the price axis show today's gold price per ounce.
- Pick a timeframe. Use the interval menu in the toolbar: 1-minute to 1-hour candles for intraday moves, daily candles for weeks to months, weekly or monthly candles for multi-year history.
- Read each candle. A candle shows the open, high, low and close for its period. Green means it closed above the open, red means it closed below.
- Switch to a log scale for long history. Gold has risen from tens of dollars to thousands of dollars over decades. On a linear scale the early years look flat; a logarithmic scale (the "log" toggle at the bottom right of the chart) shows equal percentage moves as equal heights, which is the fair way to compare a move in the 1970s with a move today.
- Use the moving average. The chart loads with a simple moving average. Price above a rising average is a common sign of an uptrend; it is a description of the past, not a forecast.
Ounces, grams and kilograms: gold unit conversions
Precious metals use the troy ounce, not the everyday ounce. Getting this wrong is the most common reason a "gold price per gram" calculation comes out about 10% off.
| Unit | Equivalent |
|---|---|
| 1 troy ounce | 31.1035 grams |
| 1 avoirdupois (regular) ounce | 28.3495 grams (about 0.911 troy oz) |
| 1 kilogram | 32.1507 troy ounces |
| 1 tola (South Asia) | 11.6638 grams (0.375 troy oz) |
| 1 troy pound | 12 troy ounces (373.24 grams) |
Worked example: per ounce to per gram and per kilo
Suppose the chart showed a hypothetical spot price of $2,000 per ounce (an example figure, not a live quote):
- Per gram: $2,000 ÷ 31.1035 = about $64.30
- Per kilogram: $2,000 × 32.1507 = about $64,301
- Per tola: $2,000 × 0.375 = $750
Valuing jewelry by karat
Spot price refers to pure (24K) gold. To estimate the metal value of jewelry, multiply weight in grams by the purity and by the per-gram price: 22K = 91.7%, 18K = 75%, 14K = 58.5%, 10K = 41.7%. A 10-gram 14K chain at the hypothetical $64.30 per gram contains about 10 × 0.585 × $64.30 ≈ $376 of gold. A buyer will usually pay less than that melt value. For other unit questions see our metric conversion page.
Spot price vs the price you actually pay
The chart shows the mid-market spot price. Real transactions happen around it:
- Bid and ask: dealers buy at the bid and sell at the ask; the spread between them is their margin.
- Premiums: one-ounce coins and small bars sell above spot; the premium per ounce is usually smaller for larger bars.
- Local currency: outside the US, the local gold price also moves with the exchange rate. A falling local currency can raise the local gold price even when XAU/USD is flat.
What moves the gold price
- Real interest rates: gold pays no interest, so rising inflation-adjusted yields tend to weigh on it and falling real yields tend to support it.
- The US dollar: because gold is priced in dollars, a stronger dollar often coincides with a lower XAU/USD and vice versa.
- Central bank buying and selling: official sector demand is a large, slow-moving source of flows.
- Fear and uncertainty: financial crises, wars and recession scares typically increase safe-haven demand.
- Investment flows: buying and selling of gold-backed ETFs, futures positioning and physical bar and coin demand.
- Jewelry demand: seasonal buying in large markets such as India and China.
Key moments on a long-term gold chart
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1934 | The US fixed the official gold price at $35 per ounce, a level kept through the Bretton Woods era. |
| 15 Aug 1971 | President Nixon suspended the dollar's convertibility into gold, ending the fixed link and letting the market price float. |
| 31 Dec 1974 | Private ownership of gold bullion became legal again for US citizens. |
| Jan 1980 | Gold spiked to around $850 per ounce amid high inflation and geopolitical tension, then fell back sharply. |
Switch the main chart to a monthly interval and log scale to see these phases in context.
Printable gold price log (blank sheet)
Want a printable gold price chart you can fill in by hand? Press the Print button below: the page prints with the live chart and this blank log table, while menus and sidebars are hidden. Record the spot price per ounce from the chart each day or week, then divide by 31.1035 for the per-gram column.
| Date | Time (time zone) | Spot (USD/oz) | Per gram | Notes / dealer premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Common mistakes
Mixing troy and regular ounces; comparing a dealer's retail coin price with spot; forgetting karat purity when valuing jewelry; and reading a 50-year linear chart as if recent moves were bigger in percentage terms than they really were.
Related: compare gold with silver on the gold-to-silver ratio chart, or follow palladium and platinum prices.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the price of gold per ounce today?
The live chart at the top of this page shows today's gold spot price per troy ounce in US dollars (XAU/USD). The right-hand edge of the chart is the latest quote; it updates continuously while the market is open, Sunday evening to Friday afternoon New York time.
Is the gold price quoted per troy ounce or regular ounce?
Gold is always quoted per troy ounce, which is 31.1035 grams. A regular (avoirdupois) ounce is 28.3495 grams, so a troy ounce is about 9.7% heavier. Kitchen-scale ounces will understate the value of your gold if you mix the two up.
How do I convert the gold price per ounce to grams?
Divide the per-ounce spot price by 31.1035. For example, if spot were $2,000 per ounce, gold would be worth about $64.30 per gram of pure gold. Multiply by the karat purity (for example 0.585 for 14K) to value jewelry gold.
Is there a printable gold price per ounce chart or blank sheet?
Yes. Use the Print button on this page to print the live chart together with the blank gold price log table, which has columns for date, time, spot price per ounce, price per gram and notes. You can fill it in by hand to track prices over time.
Why is the price I pay for gold coins higher than the spot price?
Spot is the wholesale price for large bars. Coins and small bars carry a premium over spot to cover minting, distribution and dealer margin, and dealers buy back below the price they sell at. The gap is widest for small items and during periods of heavy demand.