Autocatalysts
The dominant use by a wide margin. Palladium’s price is, more than anything else, a bet on how many petrol cars get built — which is why it is falling as electrification advances.
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Palladium is the most industrial of the precious metals: the overwhelming majority goes into catalytic converters for petrol engines. That single use makes it the most volatile of the four — it traded above gold between 2018 and 2022 on a genuine supply shortage, then fell hard as carmakers substituted platinum and electric vehicles began removing the need for a converter at all.
Prices last updated
How the palladium price has moved over each period, measured from our own recorded closes. Every row names the date and closing price it is measured from, so each figure can be checked rather than taken on trust.
| Period | Change | Amount | Measured from |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 day | +2.43% | +$31.40 | 10 September 2026 ($1,292.50) |
| 1 week | −5.70% | −$80.00 | 4 September 2026 ($1,403.90) |
| 1 month | −3.38% | −$46.30 | 12 August 2026 ($1,370.20) |
| 6 months | −14.81% | −$230.20 | 13 March 2026 ($1,554.10) |
| 1 year | +8.55% | +$104.30 | 11 September 2025 ($1,219.60) |
| 5 years | −37.64% | −$799.10 | 10 September 2021 ($2,123.00) |
| 10 years | +94.85% | +$644.45 | 9 September 2016 ($679.45) |
| Year to date | −18.74% | −$305.30 | 31 December 2025 ($1,629.20) |
| Since 1998 | +355.65% | +$1,033.35 | 28 September 1998 ($290.55) |
| Latest close | $1,323.90 | 11 September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Previous close | $1,292.50 | 10 September 2026 |
| Highest close on record | $2,985.40 | 3 May 2021— now −55.65% from it |
| Lowest close on record | $148.50 | 16 April 2003 |
| Record covered | 6,534 sessions | 28 September 1998 to 11 September 2026 |
| Unit and frequency | USD per troy ounce | Daily close |
The dominant use by a wide margin. Palladium’s price is, more than anything else, a bet on how many petrol cars get built — which is why it is falling as electrification advances.
Platinum and palladium are chemically interchangeable in many converters. When palladium ran far above platinum, manufacturers re-engineered to use platinum instead, and that switch does not reverse quickly.
Russia and South Africa produce most of the world’s palladium, much of it as a by-product of nickel and platinum mining. By-product supply does not respond to price, which is why shortages persist and then break violently.
One ounce of gold is currently worth about 3.29 ounces of palladium, so palladium trades below gold — read alongside the demand picture above rather than as a valuation on its own.
Palladium is not measured in karats. Pieces are marked by fineness instead — the parts per thousand of pure metal — so the value below is the spot price scaled by that purity, before any dealer margin.
| Mark | Purity | Per gram | Typically used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 999 | 99.9% | $42.40 | investment bars and coins |
| 950 | 95.0% | $40.32 | the mark used for the little palladium jewellery made |
Tightening emissions rules through the 2010s raised how much palladium each petrol car needed, at a time when supply was fixed — most palladium is a by-product of nickel and platinum mining, so producers could not simply mine more of it. The resulting shortage pushed it above gold from 2018, peaking near $3,000 an ounce in 2022.
Two things at once. Carmakers redesigned converters to substitute cheaper platinum, permanently removing part of the demand; and electric vehicles do not use a catalytic converter at all. A metal whose demand is concentrated in one application falls hard when that application shrinks.
It is the most volatile of the four precious metals and the most exposed to a single industry that is actively shrinking. That cuts both ways: the same concentration that drove it above gold can drive it back. Nothing here is financial advice — it is a commodity bet on internal combustion engines, not a store of value.
Typically two to seven grams, varying widely by vehicle size, age and emissions standard. That is why scrap converters have resale value and why converter theft rose alongside the price. Recyclers pay on assay of the specific unit, not on a spot calculation.
Prices are indicative reference figures, may be delayed, and are not trading quotes or financial advice. Compare with gold and silver.