Gold: Learning about it

I would like to buy some gold right now. I have been blessed with some great commissions at work and almost all of it is going towards buying a new house. I do have some money to buy gold but I am not used to it like I am with silver. What kind of volitility does it have? How much of a swing can it do in a day? I see that I will be paying about a $65 premium for an ounce online and the buy back is about $15 over. Basically before I buy I want to know what to expect on the ups and downs. I have been tracking silver for a year now and have quite and exceptional spread sheet on all my purchases and sales. I just haven't tracked gold. For those of you with experience do you have any advice?

 

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What are you wanting to buy? AGE's, ML's, bars??? For the most part gold tracks along with silver. I would encourage you to watch gold, silver, and platinum as a whole.

 

AGE's right now. I want to buy full ounces, not fractionals. I have a good repor with a few dealers that buy and sell close to what I can do online, so liquidity won't be an issue. Platinum is tough in my area because the premiums are so much higher over spot. I'm thinking 3 ounces in the next few months. The first I am thinking of buying this week.

 

If you have a smart phone I highly encourage you to get JM bullions free app that has up to the minute spot prices on gold, silver, plat., palad., and the current GSR. It has current charts as well. I probably check the prices 30-40 times a day. Nothing wrong with AGE's. Just shop around for the lowest premium. I wasn't suggesting platinum for you but its good to know the prices of other metals as well. Oil and copper are another two too keep an eye on. Just a good habit to have...

 

How are oil and copper related to gold?

 

Google is your friend.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=How+are+oil+and+copper+related+to+gold?+&t=h_&ia=web

Or in my case, Duckduckgo...

 

I've got ADD right now. If oil goes up do PM's trend up with it?

 

Glad your business is going good for you atm! Good luck finding some gold!

 

Gulp

 

I wouldn't track oil with PMs.
The weather affects oil, even the *potential* weather affects oil and it's products (gasoline, etc). The supply of oil may increase as the price goes up (brings more offline platforms back online if the price gets above their breakeven price) .. think fracking too. Gov't regulations affect oil/distillants (ie, like the US gov't allowing foreign sale of us distillants to foreign countries, which is fairly new).

But generally gold tracks well with silver.
Copper has it's own trend line.

 

Is there an inverse correlation between copper and silver?

 

I'd have to check but copper is heavily used in manufacturing of products from electrical wire, kitchen stuff, brass, automotive, etc etc.

 

You realize Copper is fairly cheap.
A 10lb bar is about $64. versus 4oz rounds of Silver.
That's 10 lbs ... think of the shipping cost related to that when you go to sell it .. it's not going to be a $2.30 shipping cost as with coins.

Since there's not much movement (by comparison to Silver and Gold) you will have to buy a ton of it, literally & physically to make a good profit. I hope you drive a pickup truck, dualie preferred.


You could develop a loose correlation between copper and silver on long term trends but I would treat both of them differently and follow the news about both of them separately. Then you'd be more accurate.


and you will have limited buyers.
I don't think many people collect copper except indirectly with their copper cookware and brass in watches, etc.

If you take a copper & silver round to your neighbor which would they be more likely to buy ?

 

I had no interest in copper, just wanted to know the correlation to gold and silver.

 

I like type 1 Lib. double eagles...when gold moves up, so do they, and when gold moves down, they still move up.

 

My two cents is that the same principles apply that work for silver. It's just an order of magnitude more expensive and popular.

You have bullion (modern eagles, bars, rounds, etc) , "collectible bullion" (vintage eagles, rands, etc) and you have coinage (pre-33, British sovereigns, various countries, etc). And you have the things that are made from it (jewelery, computer parts, connectors, etc).

The first thing to be aware of is what is pure gold, and what isn't. Make sure you note down formulas for calculating things that are not pure 24kt.

I have a spreadsheet with common coins, formulas for various karat purity jewelry, etc... I plug in the current melt value and get an accurate melt price for the items. (Do this with any metals you deal with!)

Never forget that you need to TEST it. It's one thing to get burned on a fake Morgan for $20. It's another to get burned for $1200 on a fake double eagle!

When buying gold, be extra cautious of who you buy from. Even respected dealers can make mistakes.

 

Pre 1933 St Gaudens from APMEX is as recognizable as anything. Maybe an exception to the .999 rule

 

Great Advice Brett, for now I plan on buying and selling online (Provident, JM Bullion). I have a few dealers I can trust too. I didn't think about testing it beyond weight.

 

I only get my gold through Provident, Apmex, etc. and trusted local dealers. Going ebay with all the fake stuff just isn't worth the risk. And provident, apmex etc is usually cheaper at various grades.