In my younger days, one always sold at spot and bought for spot plus 10-30%, now it seems everyone buys for below spot and buys above??:scratch:what's the reason for spot anymore.
To push the price down so that physical can be bought for cheap. It's a good way to create your own firesale when you're ready to stock up, assuming you run the exchange.
If you can buy below spot, you are quite good and should quit your day job. If you sell below spot, you should look for another job.
I am not sure of what type of silver you are referring to, or when your "younger days" were. 20+ years ago for ASE and similar, (pure silver struck by a government), you sold at spot and bought around spot plus $3 dollars. For junk silver, (excluding silver dollars), you sold below spot and bought around spot or a touch above, (like .3 times face). You also had to pay around .5 times face extra for halves. Except for the recent increase in premiums which I expect to go away, I don't see the difference personally.
Provident pays .10 over spot for .999 1 oz generic rounds. I'll pay you better than that if you are looking to sell some silver for above spot.
Btw what spot is tracking is 5,000 oz silver contracts in comex deliverable form. (I believe typically 1,000 oz bars)
Yes, and that is all it should ever track. Smaller purchasers, especially of governmental coins, should always expect premiums.
