Autocatalysts
Platinum scrubs emissions in diesel exhaust systems. Diesel’s retreat from European cars cut this badly, and it is the single clearest reason platinum spent years below gold.
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Platinum is rarer than gold in the ground but usually cheaper per ounce, because most of what is mined goes into industry rather than into vaults. Roughly three quarters of supply comes from South Africa and Russia, which makes the price unusually sensitive to power cuts, strikes and sanctions in a way gold is not.
Prices last updated
How the platinum 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 | +0.74% | +$13.20 | 10 September 2026 ($1,784.40) |
| 1 week | −1.56% | −$28.40 | 4 September 2026 ($1,826.00) |
| 1 month | +2.07% | +$36.50 | 12 August 2026 ($1,761.10) |
| 6 months | −11.74% | −$239.00 | 13 March 2026 ($2,036.60) |
| 1 year | +28.82% | +$402.20 | 11 September 2025 ($1,395.40) |
| 5 years | +87.90% | +$840.90 | 10 September 2021 ($956.70) |
| 10 years | +68.65% | +$731.70 | 9 September 2016 ($1,065.90) |
| Year to date | −11.64% | −$236.90 | 31 December 2025 ($2,034.50) |
| Since 1997 | +346.39% | +$1,394.90 | 29 October 1997 ($402.70) |
| Latest close | $1,797.60 | 11 September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Previous close | $1,784.40 | 10 September 2026 |
| Highest close on record | $2,852.40 | 26 January 2026— now −36.98% from it |
| Lowest close on record | $336.40 | 1 October 1998 |
| Record covered | 6,551 sessions | 29 October 1997 to 11 September 2026 |
| Unit and frequency | USD per troy ounce | Daily close |
Platinum scrubs emissions in diesel exhaust systems. Diesel’s retreat from European cars cut this badly, and it is the single clearest reason platinum spent years below gold.
A far larger share of demand than for palladium, concentrated in China, India and Japan — so platinum tracks Asian consumer demand more closely than industrial metals usually do.
Electrolysers and fuel cells use platinum as a catalyst. This is the growth story attached to the metal, and it is genuinely early rather than priced in.
One ounce of gold is currently worth about 2.41 ounces of platinum, so platinum trades below gold — read alongside the demand picture above rather than as a valuation on its own.
Platinum 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 950 | 95.0% | $55.04 | the standard for platinum jewellery in most markets |
| 900 | 90.0% | $52.14 | common in older and American pieces |
| 850 | 85.0% | $49.25 | usual for chain and lighter settings |
| 999 | 99.9% | $57.88 | investment bars and coins |
Rarity sets supply, not price. Almost all gold ever mined still exists and is held as a store of value, so demand is investment-led and deep. Platinum is consumed by industry, mostly in vehicle exhaust systems, so its price follows the car market and the industrial cycle. When diesel demand fell, so did platinum — regardless of how little of it comes out of the ground.
Platinum does not use karats. Jewellery is marked by fineness instead: 950 means 95% pure, 900 means 90%. Multiply the spot price per gram by the fineness to get the metal value — 950 platinum is worth 95% of the pure figure. That is the melt value before any dealer margin or fabrication cost.
Not in the same way. Gold rises in crises because people buy it as a safe haven. Platinum usually falls in a downturn, because a recession means fewer cars and less industrial activity. It behaves closer to an industrial commodity than to a monetary metal, which is worth knowing before treating the two as interchangeable.
How many ounces of platinum one ounce of gold buys. It sat below 1 for most of the twentieth century — platinum was the premium metal — and moved above 1 after 2015, meaning gold became worth more than platinum. Traders watch it as a measure of whether platinum is cheap relative to gold rather than cheap outright.
Prices are indicative reference figures, may be delayed, and are not trading quotes or financial advice. Compare with gold and silver.