Gold/silver ratio:
Estimates only. The ratio depends on which prices you use (spot, futures, settlement), so expect small differences between sources.
How to read the ratio
The ratio is one number divided by another. Gold at 2,400 and silver at 28 gives a ratio of about 86: one ounce of gold buys 86 ounces of silver. A rising ratio means gold is outperforming silver; a falling ratio means silver is outperforming. Nothing more, nothing less. It says nothing about whether either metal is cheap or expensive in dollar terms - both can fall while the ratio rises.
Which prices you use matters at the margin. Spot prices, front-month futures, and daily settlements each give a slightly different reading, so treat the ratio as a ballpark figure rather than a precise measurement.
Historical context, without fake precision
The ratio has ranged enormously over history. Under bimetallic monetary systems it was fixed by law near 15 or 16. Since the metals were cut loose from fixed prices, it has spent much of the modern era somewhere in a broad 40-to-80 band, with excursions well outside it - above 100 during the 2020 panic, and near the low end during silver's strongest runs. Anyone who quotes you a single normal value with decimal places is overselling the precision.
The honest takeaway is that the ratio is volatile, mean-reverting over long stretches, and useless as a short-term timing signal. Long stretches can pass where it trends one way and punishes anyone betting on a quick return to average.
How traders use it - carefully
Some metals traders use extreme ratio readings to shift emphasis between gold and silver positions rather than to pick tops and bottoms. That is a relative-value decision, and it still carries full price risk in both metals. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. If you trade the metals, our quotes and charts platform covers both markets, and our brokers have watched every ratio extreme since the 1980s - perspective helps, even when it does not predict.