Financial education
How Gold Profit Is Calculated
Gold profit depends on quantity, buy price, sell price, fees, spreads, and the unit used for pricing.
How the math works
Gold profit is proceeds from selling minus the full cost of buying, where cost includes not just the price paid per unit but any transaction fee, and proceeds reflect the actual sell price you receive, which is usually lower than the quoted market price.
Worked example
Buying 10 grams at $75/gram plus a $15 fee costs $765. Selling later at $82/gram brings in $820. Profit is $55, a return of about 7.2% — smaller than the ($82-$75)/$75 = 9.3% price move alone would suggest, because of the fee.
What to watch for
- The price you're quoted to buy and the price you'd receive to sell are rarely the same (see the buy/sell spread)
- Purity (karat) affects the effective price per gram — a 14k price is not directly comparable to a 24k price
- Storage, insurance, or dealer premiums can add real costs the raw price-per-gram doesn't capture
Practical takeaway
Always compute profit from your actual buy cost (including fees) to your actual sell proceeds — the headline spot-price change alone overstates your real return.