Platinum Price

The number displayed at the top of this page is the live platinum spot price, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce and derived from XPT/USD futures and spot trading. Unlike stocks, the platinum market trades nearly continuously on weekdays, opening Sunday evening and running through Friday afternoon US time, so this price updates around the clock rather than just during a single daily session. Spot price reflects the wholesale value of raw, unfinished platinum and is the benchmark every dealer and refiner references. When you buy or sell a physical platinum coin or bar, the dealer's price is this spot figure plus a premium that covers minting, distribution, and dealer margin. Checking today's platinum price on this page gives you the baseline number that all physical platinum transactions are built on.

Platinum's price moves on a narrower, more industrial set of forces than gold's. The largest single driver is automotive demand, since platinum and palladium are used in catalytic converters that scrub emissions from gasoline and diesel engines, so shifts in vehicle production and emissions standards ripple directly into platinum demand. Supply is highly concentrated, with more than 70% of primary mined platinum coming from South Africa and most of the remainder from Russia, which means labor disputes, power shortages, or export disruptions in either country can tighten the market quickly. Analysts track the resulting supply-demand balance as a deficit or surplus each year, and a sustained deficit tends to pull more investment and industrial buying into a smaller available pool of metal. Because platinum is priced in dollars globally, a stronger US dollar generally makes platinum more expensive for buyers holding other currencies, while a weaker dollar tends to have the opposite effect.

For most of the twentieth century, platinum traded at a premium to gold, reflecting its greater rarity and heavier industrial demand. Since the mid-2010s, that relationship flipped, and platinum has traded below gold for extended stretches of time. Investors and analysts follow the platinum-to-gold ratio, which compares the two prices, as a gauge of how the two metals are valued relative to each other. Some investors view platinum as the potential value play among precious metals because it remains rarer than gold by a wide margin yet has traded at a discount to it. This ratio reflects historical trading patterns and current industrial demand cycles, not a forecast of where either metal is headed.

The calculator above this section lets you convert the live spot price into the value of a specific quantity of platinum by entering the weight in troy ounces. Common physical platinum products include the American Platinum Eagle, the Platinum Maple Leaf, and platinum bars from refiners such as PAMP Suisse and Credit Suisse, each priced off spot plus a premium that varies by product and mint. Lone Star Coins, a second-generation family-owned dealer based in San Antonio, Texas, buys and sells physical platinum coins and bars and prices them directly off this live spot market. Whether you're evaluating an existing holding or considering a purchase, starting from the spot price shown here and the calculator above gives you a consistent, up-to-date reference point.