Most people assume the gold price is simply whatever the last trade was. In practice, the number that anchors the physical market is produced deliberately, twice a day, in an auction that lasts a few minutes.
An auction, not a quote
The LBMA Gold Price is established at 10:30 and 15:00 London time. A group of accredited participants submit buy and sell volumes at a proposed price. If the imbalance between them is too large, the price is adjusted and another round runs. The auction closes when supply and demand sit within a narrow tolerance.
That mechanism matters because it produces a single, published, auditable figure. Contracts, ETFs, refiners and central banks need a number they can point to in writing, and a continuously moving spot quote cannot serve that purpose.
Why spot still moves between auctions
Between those two windows, gold continues to trade over the counter around the clock. The spot price you see on this site reflects that continuous market, which is why it rarely matches the benchmark exactly. Neither figure is wrong; they answer different questions.
Which one should you use?
For valuing a holding right now, spot is the right reference. For anything contractual, the published benchmark is the convention.
Key takeaways
- The LBMA Gold Price is set by auction twice daily, not by a single trade.
- Rounds repeat until buy and sell volumes balance within tolerance.
- Spot trades continuously and will differ from the benchmark.
- Use spot for valuation, the benchmark for contracts.
For the current spot price in more than thirty currencies, see our live gold price page.