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Last updated: August 4, 2026 · By White Metal Resources Editorial
Quick answer: The price on a precious metals IRA invoice is built in five layers. The COMEX futures spot price sets the wholesale reference. The LBMA daily benchmark settles good-delivery bars. The dealer wholesale price adds mint and distributor cost. The retail bid-ask adds dealer margin. An IRA-purchase premium is often stacked on top. Only the first two layers are transparent public benchmarks.
Short on time? The essentials
- Every retail metals price starts from a public benchmark: the COMEX futures spot on CME Group, or the twice-daily LBMA auction in London.
- Between the benchmark and the invoice sit three private markups: the wholesale price to the dealer, the retail bid-ask on the site, and any extra IRA-purchase premium.
- The COMEX and LBMA layers are not negotiable and not where dealers compete. The three private layers are where the same coin can carry very different total prices at two firms on the same day.
- A "spot plus X percent" quote covers only Layer 4 in most cases. It rarely names the IRA-purchase premium and it never names the buyback discount you would cross on the way out.
- The buyback spread is the gap between the buy price and the same day sell-back price on the same product. It is the single cleanest test of the retail dealer layer.
- Federal law never fixes retail metals prices. The CFTC polices futures market manipulation and the FTC polices deceptive marketing, but neither agency caps a retail markup on a coin.
- Sovereign coins (American Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs, Austrian Philharmonics) usually carry a higher premium than an approved 1 ounce bar of the same fineness, because mint fabrication and design royalties sit inside Layer 3.
- Silver, platinum, and palladium travel the same five-layer stack as gold. Percentages differ because the metal is cheaper per ounce and the fabrication cost is a larger share of the invoice.
The price you see on a precious metals IRA invoice is not one number. It is the end of a five-layer stack that begins on a public futures exchange and ends at the dealer’s IRA order desk. Each layer adds a spread taken by a different party, and only the first two layers are transparent public benchmarks.
This page walks each layer, names the party that takes the spread, and shows how to see the private layers in writing before you fund.
The five-layer pricing stack
A gold, silver, platinum, or palladium coin sold into a precious metals IRA travels through the same five priced layers, in the same order. The first two are public and quoted in real time. The next three are set by private commercial parties.
| Layer | What it is | Who sets it | Public price? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. COMEX spot | Live futures benchmark for the metal | CME Group open outcry and electronic order book | Yes, real time |
| 2. LBMA benchmark | Twice daily London auction price | ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) | Yes, published daily |
| 3. Dealer wholesale | Price a retail dealer pays a mint or distributor | Mint, refiner or primary distributor | No, private trade term |
| 4. Retail bid-ask | Online or phone buy price and sell-back price | Retail dealer | Only the buy side, in most cases |
| 5. IRA-purchase premium | Extra dollars on IRA orders vs personal orders | Retail dealer IRA desk | Rarely disclosed in writing |
Sources: CME Group COMEX gold futures; LBMA precious metals prices; ICE Benchmark Administration, LBMA Gold Price methodology. Checked August 2026.
Layer 1: The COMEX futures spot price
The spot price of gold, silver, platinum, or palladium is a live number set on the futures market. In the United States, the reference contracts trade on the CME Group COMEX division: gold in 100 ounce contracts, silver in 5,000 ounce contracts (source: CME Group COMEX gold futures). Platinum and palladium trade on the same platform under NYMEX contracts (source: CME Group NYMEX platinum futures).
The number every dealer site labels "spot" is derived from the nearest front-month futures contract, adjusted for the small cost of carry between now and delivery. Because the futures market clears through a central exchange, the price is visible and verifiable in real time. This is the layer where dealers do not compete: everyone quotes off the same feed.
Worth knowing: the CME feed is quoted per troy ounce for the underlying metal. It is a wholesale reference. It is not a retail price and no dealer sells you metal at that number.
Layer 2: The LBMA daily benchmark
The London Bullion Market Association publishes twice daily benchmark prices used by refiners, bullion banks, and central banks as a settlement reference for good-delivery bars. The auction for gold runs at 10:30 am and 3:00 pm London time. The auction for silver runs at 12:00 pm London time. It is administered by ICE Benchmark Administration under UK Financial Conduct Authority supervision (source: ICE Benchmark Administration, LBMA Gold Price methodology).
The LBMA number matters to your IRA invoice indirectly. When a US retail dealer buys 1 kilogram or 100 ounce bars from a wholesaler, the wholesaler prices off the LBMA benchmark or the COMEX spot, whichever the trade term specifies. That wholesale price then becomes the input for Layer 3. The auction result itself is public and free to read on the LBMA site (source: LBMA precious metals prices).
Retail buyers rarely see the LBMA layer named on a coin invoice, but it is the layer that anchors the entire stack. If a dealer quotes you a price that would imply a spot number 5 percent above the current LBMA fix or the CME feed, the extra 5 percent lives in one of the private layers below.
Layer 3: The dealer wholesale price
Between the wholesale reference (LBMA or COMEX) and the price you see on a retail site sits the dealer wholesale price. That is what a retail dealer pays a mint, a refiner, or a primary distributor for the coin or bar it will resell.
Two costs sit inside Layer 3. Mint fabrication is the labor and manufacturing cost of turning refined metal into a specific coin or a specific bar. That cost is largest on small sovereign coins with detailed designs and smallest on 1 kilogram approved bars. Distributor spread is the small margin a wholesale distributor charges for holding inventory, packaging, and shipping to the retail dealer.
Layer 3 is a private trade term between a dealer and its wholesaler. No retail customer sees it on a receipt. The way it shows up in your invoice is as the difference between the current spot price and the base retail bid price on a common bullion product like a 1 ounce approved bar. On mainstream bullion, that gap usually runs a few percent above spot.
The US Mint publishes the wholesale price it charges Authorized Purchasers for American Eagles as a fixed premium over the London PM fix. That is one of the very few Layer 3 numbers that is public (source: US Mint bullion sales).
Layer 4: The retail bid-ask
The retail bid-ask is the layer you can see. It is the buy price and the sell-back price the dealer posts on its site or quotes on the phone. On a large retail bullion site, both numbers are usually visible for common products, updated in near real time as spot moves.
The gap between the buy price and the same day sell-back price is the retail dealer spread. On common 1 ounce sovereign coins from a major online dealer, published buy prices commonly run in the mid single-digit percent range above spot. Same day sell-back prices on those coins run in the low single-digit percent range below spot (source: APMEX live gold coin listings).
The retail spread is where mainstream online dealers compete openly. That is why the same product can be a few tenths of a percent cheaper at one site than another on the same day.
For IRA-eligible bars, retail spreads are usually tighter than sovereign coins of the same weight, because Layer 3 fabrication cost is lower on a 1 kilogram bar than on a 1 ounce coin. That gap is a structural feature of how the metal is made, not a discount any dealer is offering.
Layer 5: The IRA-purchase premium
The last layer is the one savers rarely see coming. Some retail dealers quote one price on the public site and a different, higher price on the same coin when the funding source is a self-directed IRA rollover. That extra difference is the IRA-purchase premium.
The IRA premium usually appears in one of three ways. The site price stays visible for cash buyers, and the IRA desk quotes a higher number by phone. The site does not publish a sell-back price on IRA-eligible products, only a buy price.
The third pattern is more subtle. A specialist steers the conversation toward a "high-premium" or "graded" coin that carries a much wider spread than the same weight of common bullion. The custodian may still accept it if the coin passes the fineness or sovereign carve-out test at IRC 408(m)(3) (source: 26 U.S.C. section 408).
Layer 5 is the layer the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has cited repeatedly in enforcement releases against retail metals dealers. In one recent action, the CFTC obtained a summary judgment ordering more than $146 million in restitution and civil penalties against an operator that used a self-directed IRA sales pipeline (source: CFTC release 8724-23). The CFTC does not set retail markups. It acts on fraud and misrepresentation once the markup crosses into deceptive conduct.
Who takes each spread
Each layer is not just a number. It is a party. Knowing who takes which spread tells you which layer you can actually shop.
| Layer | Party taking the spread | Can you shop this layer? |
|---|---|---|
| 1. COMEX spot | None; it is a benchmark, not a sale | No; it is the reference every party quotes from |
| 2. LBMA benchmark | None; auction result administered by IBA | No; it is the reference for good-delivery bars |
| 3. Dealer wholesale | Mint, refiner, primary distributor | Not directly; retail buyers do not access wholesale |
| 4. Retail bid-ask | The retail dealer | Yes; compare two dealers on the same product, same day |
| 5. IRA-purchase premium | The retail dealer (usually its IRA desk) | Yes, but only if you ask; it is usually not on the site |
Sources: CME Group; ICE Benchmark Administration; CFTC release 8724-23. Structural mapping. Checked August 2026.
The pattern is clear. Layers 1 and 2 are anchors and no party takes a spread on them. Layer 3 is a wholesale relationship no retail buyer participates in. That leaves Layers 4 and 5, both set by the retail dealer, as the only layers a saver can shop before signing.
What “spot plus X percent” actually means
Retail dealers often quote pricing as "spot plus X percent" or "spot plus X per ounce." The phrase is a shortcut for the combined Layer 3 plus Layer 4 markup on the coin or bar in question. It rarely covers Layer 5.
Two problems arise. First, a "spot plus 4 percent" quote on a 1 ounce sovereign coin uses a very different spot base than the exact same phrase on a 1 kilogram bar. The number depends on which spot feed and which time stamp the dealer used. Second, the quote is usually the buy side only. A saver who takes a spot plus 4 percent buy without asking for a spot minus X percent sell-back number is seeing half the sentence.
Under FTC unfair or deceptive practice authority, a dealer cannot legally misrepresent the price. It can, however, legally quote a very wide spread if the number is accurate and disclosed at the point of sale (source: Federal Trade Commission Act, section 5). The saver’s job is to see the full spread before funding, not to hope the number is fair.
The buyback spread you will cross on the way out
Every IRA account eventually pays out. When it does, the metal is sold back to a dealer to convert into cash for a distribution or a required minimum distribution. That sale crosses Layers 4 and 3 in reverse.
The sell-back price a dealer will pay for the same coin, same day, is almost always lower than the buy price it charged. That gap is the buyback spread on mainstream bullion.
On common 1 ounce sovereign coins, same day buy-back on major online dealer sites has historically run a low single-digit percent below spot. The paired buy price runs in the mid single-digit percent range above spot (source: APMEX live gold coin listings). On high-premium graded or numismatic coins, the buyback gap is much wider. It sometimes runs double-digit percent below the original purchase price on the same day.
Getting a written sell-back number on the exact product you plan to buy, at the same moment you get the buy price, is the cleanest single test of Layer 4 (and often Layer 5). It is also the number the strongest firms will quote without pushback and the weakest ones will not.
How to test any dealer’s price stack
The steps below make each private layer visible before you sign the paperwork. None of them require you to become a metals trader.
- Pull the current COMEX gold or silver spot on CME Group before you call. That number is Layer 1 and it anchors the whole stack. Note the time stamp.
- Check the most recent LBMA fix for the same metal. On the LBMA site, this is one click. It confirms Layer 2 and gives you a settlement reference in case the futures feed moves during the call.
- Ask the dealer for the buy price on the exact product you would purchase. Specific coin, specific weight, specific quantity. Get it in writing (email or portal quote), not verbal.
- Ask for the same day sell-back price on the exact same product. In the same message, in writing. The gap between the two numbers is the retail dealer spread. If the site does not publish a sell-back number, the request itself is a diagnostic.
- Ask whether the price would be different if the funding source were a personal check rather than an IRA rollover. If yes, ask for both numbers in writing. The gap between the two is the IRA-purchase premium (Layer 5).
- Repeat steps three through five with a second dealer. Do it the same day, on the same product. Spot moves across firms together, so any large gap between two written quotes is a real cost difference, not a market difference.
When a wider premium is legitimate vs a warning
Not every wide premium is a warning. Some structural reasons push a retail price above spot without any dealer misconduct at all. The honest read is that some Layer 3 costs are real, and the saver’s job is to tell the real ones apart from the invented ones.
Picture two 1 ounce gold products on the same day, when spot is $2,500 an ounce. The first is an approved 1 ounce bar from a common LBMA good-delivery refiner. The second is a proof American Gold Eagle from the US Mint.
- Approved 1 oz bar retail buy price: $2,575, or 3 percent above spot. Layer 3 fabrication is minimal on a plain bar. Layer 4 dealer margin is modest.
- Bullion 1 oz American Gold Eagle retail buy price: $2,675, or 7 percent above spot. Layer 3 includes the US Mint fabrication premium and Authorized Purchaser cost. Layer 4 dealer margin is similar.
- Proof or graded American Gold Eagle retail buy price: $3,200 or more, or 28 percent above spot. Layer 3 includes proof strike cost and grading service fees; Layer 5 IRA premium is often stacked on top.
Point one: the gap between the bar and the bullion Eagle is a real Layer 3 cost, not a hidden markup. Point two: the gap between the bullion Eagle and the proof or graded Eagle is where Layer 5 usually lives, and it is where high-premium IRA sales pipelines have historically hidden most of the spread.
The figures above are illustrative, not quotes from any firm. This is an illustration, not financial advice; consult a licensed advisor for your situation.
Warning signs are simpler once the layer stack is clear. If a dealer will quote a buy price but not a same day sell-back on the same product, Layer 4 is opaque. If the site price is different from the IRA desk price and the difference is not disclosed in writing, Layer 5 is opaque.
A third pattern is worth watching. If a specialist steers the conversation toward proof, graded, or numismatic coins without a clear side-by-side against the same weight of standard bullion, Layer 5 is doing the work.
Pricing questions savers ask most
Is the spot price the same at every dealer?
Effectively yes. Every US dealer quotes off a feed derived from the CME Group COMEX futures market for gold and silver, and NYMEX for platinum and palladium. Small time-stamp differences exist between refresh cycles, but the underlying reference price is the same benchmark for everyone. Where dealers differ is on the layers above spot, not on spot itself.
Why is the LBMA benchmark different from the COMEX spot?
They measure the same metal at different moments and by different methods. COMEX spot is derived continuously from the front-month futures contract. The LBMA benchmark is a twice daily auction result, published at fixed times London time and administered by ICE Benchmark Administration. Both are legitimate references. Which one a dealer quotes off depends on the trade term the wholesaler used.
What is a fair premium above spot on IRA-eligible bullion?
No federal rule sets a "fair" premium. On common 1 ounce sovereign coins from mainstream online dealers, published buy prices commonly run in the mid single-digit percent range above spot. Approved 1 ounce bars often run in the low single-digit percent range. Wider quotes exist, and they are legal as long as the number is disclosed at the point of sale.
Do IRA dealers charge more than dealers selling to cash buyers?
Some do and some do not. It depends on the firm and the product. The cleanest way to find out is to ask, in writing, whether the price on a specific coin would differ if the funding source were a personal check versus an IRA rollover. If both numbers are the same, there is no Layer 5. If they differ, that difference is Layer 5 and it should be disclosed.
Why do proof and graded coins carry such wide premiums?
Two Layer 3 costs sit inside them that a bullion coin does not carry. Proof coins are struck on polished planchets by a slower process. Graded coins have been submitted to a third-party grading service. Both add real fabrication and certification cost. On top of those real costs, high-premium coins are the product category where Layer 5 IRA premiums have historically been widest, so the total retail price can be far above the intrinsic metal value.
Is the dealer allowed to change the price after I lock it?
Once a written price lock or trade confirmation is executed, the price is contractually set. Before that lock, the price moves with spot. This is why getting the buy and sell-back numbers in writing at the same moment matters. It converts a moving quote into a fixed reference you can compare against a second firm the same day.
Does the custodian have any say in the price?
No. The IRA custodian holds legal title to the account and files tax reports; it does not sell metal or set the coin price. The custodian enforces the IRS fineness gate at IRC 408(m)(3) and the sovereign coin carve-out at 31 U.S.C. 5112, and it wires funds to the dealer of record when you sign a purchase authorization. Pricing is a dealer function, not a custodian function.
Where can I verify a spot price myself in real time?
The CME Group site publishes delayed and, for many products, near real-time quotes for the front-month gold and silver futures contracts. The LBMA publishes the twice daily benchmark auction result on the same day it clears. Both are free to read and both are the anchors every retail metals dealer prices against.
Sources
- London Bullion Market Association, Precious metal prices. Checked August 2026.
- ICE Benchmark Administration, LBMA Gold Price methodology. Checked August 2026.
- CME Group, COMEX gold futures contract specifications. Checked August 2026.
- CME Group, NYMEX platinum futures contract specifications. Checked August 2026.
- United States Mint, Bullion sales. Checked August 2026.
- APMEX, live gold coin listings (retail bid-ask reference). Checked August 2026.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute, 26 U.S.C. section 408. Checked August 2026.
- IRS, Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements. Checked August 2026.
- U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Release 8724-23. Checked August 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission Act, section 5. Checked August 2026.
