Why the gold price moves differently in euros than in dollars
Gold is quoted worldwide in dollars. What you receive in euros therefore depends on two movements – and they can reinforce one another or cancel each other out.
The sum behind every gold price in euros
The world market quotes gold in US dollars per troy ounce. A troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams – not an ordinary ounce, but the measure the precious metal trade has used for centuries. Turning that into a price per gram in euros takes two steps:
Step 1: divide the dollar price by the EUR/USD rate. With gold at 4,050 dollars and the euro at 1.1370 dollars, a troy ounce is 4,050 ÷ 1.1370 = 3,562 euros.
Step 2: divide that by 31.1034768. That brings you to 3,562 ÷ 31.1035 = 114.52 euros per gram.
We do those two steps afresh every minute. The rate you see on our price pages is the result of precisely this sum – nothing more and nothing less.
Work it out yourself. Every price page shows the gold rate per gram. Multiply that by 31.1035 and you have the price per troy ounce in euros; divide that by the day’s dollar rate and you are back at the international quotation.
Why your proceeds can fall while gold rises
Because two rates are in play, they can move against one another. An example with round figures:
- Monday: gold 4,000 dollars, euro 1.10 dollars. Per gram: 4,000 ÷ 1.10 ÷ 31.1035 = 116.93 euros.
- Tuesday: gold rises to 4,080 dollars (+2%), but the euro rises with it to 1.15. Per gram: 4,080 ÷ 1.15 ÷ 31.1035 = 114.05 euros.
- Gold became 2% more expensive, and still you receive 2.5% less.
The reverse happens just as readily. If the euro falls while gold stays put, your proceeds rise without anything having happened on the gold market at all.
What that means if you want to sell
For anyone who wants to sell at a good moment, the dollar quotation is therefore only half the story. A strong dollar – a low EUR/USD – is favourable for a Dutch or Belgian seller, even when gold itself is standing still.
In practice neither movement can be predicted. What you can do is look at the rate in euros per gram instead of at the headline about the dollar price. That is the figure it turns on for you, and it is precisely the figure we show.
- Troy ounce, gram and carat: the units side by sideThe world market reckons in troy ounces, your scales in grams and your jewellery in carats. With these three conversions you can check any offer yourself.Read on
- Krugerrand, Maple Leaf or Philharmonic: which one sells fastest?All three contain exactly one troy ounce of fine gold. What you get for them still differs – that lies in how well known they are, the fineness and how easily they scratch.Read on
- How does a buyer check whether gold is real?Magnet, acid test, specific gravity and X-ray. What each method does and does not prove – and why a stamp alone is never enough.Read on
Questions about why the gold price moves differently in euros than in dollars
Why do you calculate in troy ounces and not in ordinary ounces?
Because the entire precious metal trade does so. A troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams, while an ordinary (avoirdupois) ounce is 28.35 grams. Anyone who confuses the two is more than 9% out, and that is far too large a difference to shrug off when you are settling on weight.
Which euro rate do you use?
The current EUR/USD quotation from the world market, retrieved at the same moment as the metal price. Both come from the same feed, so that there is no time difference between the two. That matters, because a stale exchange rate would quietly shift every gold price we show.
How often is this worked out?
Every minute. On top of that we store every measurement, so that the course of today, this week and this month can be seen again on the rate page of each metal. That way you can check for yourself how the figure in front of you came about.
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