Platinum Price Charts & Historical Data

Out of the ‘big three’ precious metals – gold, silver, and platinum – platinum is the youngest. While gold and silver have been used to store wealth for thousands of years, platinum was actually only discovered in 1822, making it just over 200 years old! Despite its relatively new discovery and industrial application, platinum remains a premium investment vehicle for stackers all over the world. Around 15-20 times rarer than gold bullion, platinum is an extremely scarce resource. This scarcity might pay off quite well for investors who choose to put their money on the brilliant, white precious metal. What is the current platinum price? This guide should serve as your resource while you explore the option of investing in platinum. Don’t worry – we’ll update the spot price of platinum in real-time to help assist you in the complicated process of investment research.

Current Spot Price Platinum

As of right now, the current platinum price is just under $1,000. Platinum’s price has been in a minor decline for the past couple of months, but this is nothing unusual for the precious metal, which can be volatile in its price trends. If we zoom out on our price charts, we note a gradual increase in the value of platinum over the past five years but a decrease since 2014.

What is Spot Price?

To understand platinum price trends, investors should have a clear concept of what spot price means. When we use the term “spot price,” we’re referring to the value of one troy ounce of platinum bullion. We’ll talk a lot about spot price in this guide, so make sure that you have the idea down before we continue. For the most part, platinum price is determined by the current spot price of the bullion. Bullion items made with platinum are sold based on both the platinum spot price and an additional premium. Platinum price is about more than just spot price alone; next, we’ll take a look at premiums.

Premiums Explained

Every platinum product includes an additional cost over spot price. This is referred to as a premium, and nearly every platinum product will have one. Certain platinum items, such as coins , may come with higher premiums. On the other hand, platinum bars typically offer a lower premium over spot, which means more platinum per dollar spent.

Factors Determining Platinum Spot Price

There’s no hidden cabal of bullion stackers who determine how valuable a given precious metal is. Instead, platinum price is determined by several traditional market factors. We’ll cover a few of the things that determine the spot price of platinum below.

Market Supply and Demand

Supply for platinum is always extraordinarily low. Because the precious metal is so much rarer than silver, it’s hard to make the case that platinum will ever be less valuable than its shiny counterpart. Market demand, however, is a key indicator of platinum’s future spot price. Platinum price increases when investors and industrial leaders experience increased demand for platinum bullion. Industrial use of platinum is a major driver of both market demand and platinum price. A number of technological items use platinum as a core component. When new technologies emerge that need platinum, demand spikes and platinum price increases as a result.

Market Speculation

Market speculation is a hidden factor behind platinum price. The spot price of platinum is used by large, institutional investors to determine where they might put their money. When major players in the precious metal market anticipate a spike in platinum prices, they buy up large supplies, which increases demand and diminishes the overall availability of the asset. The result? An increasing platinum spot price. Market speculation can be hard to predict, but tracking platinum price trends might help you to stay ahead of potential price movements.

Inflation and Platinum Spot Price

During times of heavy inflation or economic insecurity, all precious metals tend to increase in demand. People who are worried about the economic future of their country are more likely to spend money on precious metals, which have historically provided a shield against rapid inflation. This isn’t always the case; more popular precious metals like gold and silver tend to be the standard for hedging against inflation. Still, a growing number of investors are turning to platinum to combat the effects of unprecedented inflation.

How to Read Platinum Spot Price

We have a chart for platinum price at the top of this page. But for new investors, this information can be difficult to digest. We’ll cover everything collectors should know about interpreting spot price in the sections below.

What Currency is Platinum Spot Price Quoted In?

Platinum price is most often quoted in United States Dollars (USD). Some sites list platinum’s spot price in other popular currencies. If you’re buying platinum from outside the United States, converting platinum price to your own currency is a simple process. Just take the spot price of platinum in USD and then plug it into a currency converter. Platinum is extremely popular in the U.S., but the precious metal is also minted all around the world.

How Much Platinum Does Spot Price Measure?

When you see the platinum price displayed on precious metal websites, this value refers to the dollar cost of one troy ounce of platinum. Troy ounces are the most popular measurement used for precious metals. Precious metal spot prices are almost never measured using a weight different than troy ounces. This system helps bullion traders to communicate a standardized price value for a given commodity, such as platinum. If you’re confused about the platinum price for a non-troy ounce commodity, the conversion process is pretty straightforward. A troy ounce is equal to approximately 1.09714 ounces, so one actual ounce of platinum is worth 1.09714 times the current spot price of platinum.

Platinum Spot Price in Different Markets

Platinum is traded on several different markets. In this section, we’re going to cover quite a bit of information about how platinum ETFs, stocks, and other paper platinum products are traded on major exchanges.

COMEX Platinum Price

COMEX is an exchange that tracks platinum price over time. This exchange allows investors to invest in platinum without possessing the physical commodity. To new platinum collectors, the idea of platinum futures can be confusing. We’ll take a closer look at this unique method of investing in platinum bullion in the section below.

What are Platinum Futures Contracts?

Platinum futures are a method of investing in platinum bullion. Traditionally, people who want to invest in platinum need to purchase, store, and keep track of multiple physical platinum products, such as platinum coins. But this isn’t the only way to invest. For a fee, consumers can also invest in platinum futures. When you do this, you’re effectively ‘betting’ on the future price trends of platinum. If you own platinum futures, you’ll profit when the platinum price increases and lose money when platinum prices plummet. The upside of this form of investment is that it allows you to invest without worrying about the logistics of possessing physical, tangible platinum.

NYMEX Platinum Price

NYMEX is another exchange that offers platinum ETFs and futures. Like COMEX, the quoted value for a platinum stock or future depends primarily on the spot platinum price. NYMEX is one of the most popular online options for buying platinum ETFs.

Benefits of Buying Platinum Futures Contracts

Futures are an interesting way to invest in platinum. Most investors who buy futures prefer to avoid the costs of maintaining, storing, and eventually selling a physical platinum collection. If you’ve ever tried to sell bullion products, you know how difficult the process can be. Platinum futures can be sold at any time on the same platform you used to buy them, which greatly simplifies the selling process. Platinum futures also take care of the problem of costly premiums. When you buy futures, you’re betting directly on the value of a given commodity. This means you won’t have to deal with paying additional premiums to account for the beautiful design or production value of a platinum coin or bar.

Disadvantages of Platinum Futures Contracts

The main advantage of the platinum futures method of investing is also its biggest downside. Many investors in the bullion market prefer physical, tangible assets to help counter the potential effects of inflation. It’s also important for new investors to understand that platinum futures operate functionally the same way as traditional stocks. If you’re dissatisfied with the stock market or don’t want your money to be wrapped up in market demand and liquidity concerns, platinum futures might not be a great option for you.

Platinum Futures and ETF Prices

Platinum futures and ETFs are sold at a markup, although the premium paid on these paper commodities might not be as expensive as the premium you’d pay for physical platinum products. Generally, you can expect to pay relatively close to the spot platinum price for your platinum futures, ETFs, or other paper platinum products.

Most Popular Platinum Products

If you’ve decided to invest in physical platinum instead of platinum ETFs or futures, you’re in good company. According to some platinum experts, around 265,000 ounces of platinum were sold as investment material in 2017 alone. What forms of platinum offer the best platinum price? And which of these products are best for long-term investment?

Platinum Coins

Hero Bullion offers a wide range of platinum coins for investors and collectors alike. Platinum coins are small, circular items minted using .999-.9999 pure platinum bullion. These platinum products are beautiful; the high reflection power of this precious metal makes it incredible to hold and keep in any collection. Mints all around the world create and distribute their own intricate and artistic platinum coins, and they continue to be popular options for people who want to diversify and expand their precious metal portfolios.

Benefits of Platinum Coins

Platinum coins offer a number of important benefits. Consumers who want to diversify their platinum portfolio should consider platinum coins to be an expensive but potentially worthwhile investment opportunity. Here are just a few of the main benefits of platinum coins:

Numismatic Value. Platinum is an extremely rare and valuable precious metal, which means that many platinum coins become more valuable over time. This feature becomes even more pronounced when you consider the beautiful artwork included on many commemorative platinum coins. The rarity, as well as the collectability, of platinum coins makes them a uniquely numismatically valuable investment option.

Beauty of Design. When compared with bars, coins are the clear winner when it comes to intricacy of design. Many major mints put quite a bit of thought and time into creating artistically valuable and historically/culturally significant platinum coin designs. The American Platinum Eagle Coin is one great example, wrapping the spirit of the American people in the brilliant shine of .9995 platinum bullion.

Cons to Platinum Coins

Platinum coins also come with their downsides. We’ll cover one major one in this section: premiums. For investors looking to pay the lowest platinum price possible for their physical platinum products, coins may not be the best call.

High Premiums. High premiums on platinum coins should come as no surprise. These platinum products come with a relatively high production value; the backing of a federal government doesn’t come cheap. Expect to pay higher premiums when purchasing a platinum coin than you’d pay for a platinum bar, round, or paper platinum product.

Platinum coins are a time-honored investment vehicle for people who see a future in platinum bullion. We’re always particularly impressed by the level of intricacy and detail shown off in platinum coin designs, and the brilliant shine of platinum as a precious metal certainly adds to the appeal.

Platinum Bars

Compared to the high premium prices associated with platinum coins, platinum bars are a cheaper way to invest in pure platinum bullion. When platinum prices shift, smart investors who want the physical precious metal put their money on bars. These high-purity platinum pieces are often struck with beautiful designs on the obverse and come with intentionally blank reverse sides. The benefits to buying platinum bars mirror the advantages of purchasing other precious metal bars, and we’ll cover some of the main upsides below.

Benefits of Platinum Bars

Many investors who want the best platinum price for their purchase consider platinum bars to be the best way to invest. We’ll highlight two main benefits: low premium costs and high liquidity. When combined, these two benefits make platinum bars a premium way to invest directly in the value of platinum bullion.

Low Premiums. Because most platinum bars come designed with very little intricate art, their production value is lower. This results in profit on the consumer-side. Lower premium costs are typically available when you buy platinum bars, and savings grow exponentially when buyers choose to invest in multiple larger bars at one time. There’s clearly a tradeoff here; platinum bars might not be as beautiful to look at as platinum coins, but they certainly provide a higher degree of value to the budget-motivated investor.

High Liquidity. As long as investors keep care of their platinum bars and protect authenticity documents throughout their investment’s lifespan, platinum bars can offer higher liquidity than coins. In other words, it’s easier to find a buyer quickly for a Valcambi 1 oz Platinum Bar than for a rare specialty coin. When it comes time to cash-in on your hard-earned investment profits, you want something that’ll be simple and easy to sell.

Disadvantages of Platinum Bars

Like we said above, platinum bars offer a tradeoff between value and design. While most bars offer a high degree of potential profitability via lower premiums, they also don’t have the kind of collectability and aesthetic value of popular platinum coins. Here are a couple reasons why some investors shy away from platinum bars.

Low Production Value. This isn’t the case with every platinum bar. Some collectors love the look of a simple platinum bar, just as some mints produce beautiful, striking platinum pieces on their bars. But for the most part, platinum bars are designed in a utilitarian way. The goal of a platinum bar is to give the consumer as much pure platinum bullion as possible – beautiful design isn’t really a huge part of the equation. For investors who want intricate, compelling visuals on their bullion, platinum bars aren’t often the best call.

Minimal Numismatic Value. Over time, rare platinum coins with beautiful designs tend to increase in premium over the spot platinum price. The same can sometimes be true for platinum bars, but this is not always the case. Because of their simple designs and minimalist obverse depictions, platinum bars provide a lower potential for numismatic value appreciation than platinum coins.

Advantages to Investing in Platinum Bullion

A few of the main upsides of investing in platinum bullion are shared by other precious metals. For example, we’ll explain why precious metals as tangible assets are a time-honored way to combat inflation. But some of the benefits of platinum are unique to this relatively new bullion asset. We’ve got you covered with a list of some of the main benefits of betting on platinum bullion.

Tangible, Physical Asset

All precious metals are considered physical, tangible assets. This works to the benefit of the average investor for a few different reasons. First, a tangible asset with intrinsic value like platinum can be used to combat inflation. Even if the value of the United States Dollar or the Euro declines significantly, the long-held physical value of platinum is undeniable. Some investment experts recommend precious metals as a way to avoid the pitfalls of inflationary investment loss. Many investors also enjoy the process of holding and physically protecting their investments. Unlike stocks, which exist only on paper and online, platinum is a physical, tangible way to establish the value of your portfolio. Platinum’s unique price trends allow it to stand separate from traditional investment models, and this makes it an especially attractive choice to investors.

Platinum as a Diversification Asset

Diversifying is the key to long-term investment success. Your investment portfolio is your future, and putting all of your financial eggs in one basket can quickly prove disastrous. This is why most financial advisors claim that investing is a good strategy. Holding precious metals means that you retain some value on your investment, even in the unlikely event that the stock market crashes or your stocks all become completely worthless. We also recommend diversifying within your precious metals portfolio. Platinum is a volatile precious metal market, and putting some money into other, more stable metals is a good way to offset the risk of your more ambitious investments. Combining low, moderate, and high risk tolerance models is a classic investment strategy – why should your precious metals stacking strategy be any different?

Historical Platinum Price Trends

We discussed the current platinum price at the beginning of this page. However, many investors want to know if platinum price trends have ever been more positive than they are now. After all, platinum supply has led to a relative glut in the past few years. More platinum has been produced than there exists demand for, which led to a depreciation in value. The good news for investors with a long term price horizon is that platinum spot price has trended upward sharply since the 1980s, when platinum first began to become popular in the United States. Did you know that platinum was worth less than $100 USD per troy ounce in 1970? Since then, platinum climbed rapidly to an all-time high of around $2,000 USD in 2008 before declining slowly to its present platinum price. Platinum has won the support of investors all over the world for several reasons. For one, platinum is extremely durable. The material is more durable than gold, which makes it easier to shape platinum into necklaces, rings, and other pieces of jewelry. Platinum is significantly rarer than gold, making it an excellent investment choice for collectors who are interested in profiting from scarcity. But platinum’s main use isn’t actually jewelry – or collection for investment purposes. Most platinum is actually used in cars. Catalytic converters use platinum and are necessary for the construction of cars and other vehicles. The Royal Society of Chemistry estimates that this source is behind 50% or more of the global demand for platinum each year. When new technologies emerge that use the highly dense and durable platinum, this means that platinum price is likely to increase.

Investing in Platinum

Given platinum’s unique combination of investor appeal and industrial usage, it’s no surprise why so many investors prefer it as their favorite precious metal. If you’re thinking about investing in platinum during platinum price lows, we’ve got a few things for you to consider before diving into the market.

How Volatile is the Platinum Price Market?

Compared to gold bullion, platinum price trends tend to be pretty volatile. The reason for this has a lot to do with the low share of the larger precious metals market that platinum possesses. Platinum has a lower market share, meaning that there are fewer people who are trading platinum back and forth. Whenever there’s a low market share of a given commodity, wild price fluctuations are always possible. Platinum is even more volatile than silver. For this reason, it’s not considered a good low-risk investment opportunity. Instead, people interested in platinum should consider counter-balancing its volatility with a more stable precious metal, such as gold or silver. It’s also possible to diversify your precious metals portfolio using traditional stocks, ETFs, and bonds.

Platinum and Taxation

Like all precious metal investments, you will need to pay taxes on your platinum investments. Luckily, long-term bullion investments are only actually taxed once you sell the product – not upon purchase or yearly, as is the case with more traditional stock purchases. You can potentially mitigate the amount of tax you pay by holding onto your platinum coins or bars for more than one year. After a year, you’re charged a 28% capital gains tax upon sale. Before one year, sales of bullion that result in profit are added to your income, which could potentially put you in a new tax bracket and further cut into profits. For more information on how Hero Bullion reports tax information to the Internal Revenue Service, take a look at our FAQs page.

Determining Total Cost for Platinum Bullion

Before you buy your first platinum coin or bar, you should have a good understanding of how to calculate the total cost of a purchase. To do this, just add the premium over spot to the current spot platinum price. Most reputable dealers should clearly display the total cost of your order when you make the purchase. Companies who try to hide the price of their platinum process shouldn’t be trusted. Hero Bullion always maintains a policy of transparency in our pricing model. We think that users trying to buy platinum bullion should get the fairest platinum price possible. Please contact us for more information about our platinum coin and bar prices.

Understanding Platinum Price Premiums

Premiums are charged on all platinum products. While bars offer the lowest premiums over spot within the platinum market, these items still require additional premium costs. A premium is added to the spot price of the commodity being purchased. Additionally, premium prices can change from day to day, depending on a number of factors. To start, premium prices for platinum might be higher during periods of especially high demand. Premiums might also increase when the market is exceptionally volatile. Premiums can also vary from dealer to dealer. When you do business with a small, local dealer, they might need to charge additional premiums in order to cover the growing costs of their business. Some bullion products that are especially valuable to investors come with higher premiums. Other products are cheaper, despite their high numismatic value. The Canadian Platinum Maple, for example, is sold at a significantly lower premium than the American Platinum Eagle.

Saving Money on Platinum Price Premiums

The easiest way to cut down on premium costs is to purchase larger amounts of platinum at one time. Many dealers offer discounts on premiums for sufficiently large orders. Your highest premium is going to come from purchasing platinum coins in low quantities. Platinum stackers who want to build their portfolios fast without breaking the bank should consider buying larger denominations – or bigger quantities of platinum coins, bars, or similar products. Establishing long-term working relationships with bullion dealers might also help you save money. Some major bullion distributors will allow you to join their mailing lists, and their regular emails can help you to monitor when premiums – or the spot platinum price – declines. Buy low, and sell high!

How Often Does Platinum Price Change?

While platinum prices have remained static during certain periods, this is considered a volatile market. You can keep up with the spot price of platinum using this page, but make sure to check back frequently. Price changes in the platinum market can be abrupt and significant. The value of a troy ounce of platinum can shoot up greatly in a matter of days. Smart investors stay on top of the market and monitor prices to know when it’s time to buy. Investors who are slow to follow the short and long term price changes of platinum are unlikely to succeed in securing a profit for themselves. Hero Bullion offers a wide range of platinum products from all around the world. We’re happy to provide our customers with up-to-date information on the newest platinum coins and bars to hit this exciting market. As always, our pricing models will remain transparent and reflect the latest price trends within the platinum sector. Whether you’re investing for the first time or the hundredth, we’re happy to help you through your platinum purchase. Please contact Hero Bullion customer service with any questions, concerns, or comments that you might have.