Gold-Silver Ratio Precious-metal valuation indicator
The gold-silver ratio indicates how many troy ounces of silver correspond at current market prices to the value of one troy ounce of gold. It is calculated as the simple quotient of gold price divided by silver price (both in the same currency and unit of weight). A ratio of 80 means that 80 ounces of silver have the same value as 1 ounce of gold. Historically the ratio was typically 12–16 in antiquity and the Middle Ages, 30–80 in the 20th century, and since 2010 often between 50 and 100. High ratios are traditionally interpreted as "silver relatively cheap", low ratios as "silver relatively expensive".
The gold-silver ratio is an indicator that expresses the value relationship between gold and silver as the number of troy ounces of silver per troy ounce of gold, calculated from the current quotient of gold price to silver price in the same currency.
Gold-Silver Ratio: term disambiguation
The gold-silver ratio refers exclusively to the quantitative relationship computed from market prices. It must not be confused with the natural abundance ratio in the Earth's crust (around 1:17 — silver is chemically considerably more common), the historical bimetallic-standard ratio fixed by states (e.g., 15.5:1 under the Napoleonic Coinage Act of 1803), or the mining ratio (around 1:8 — globally about eight times as much silver as gold is mined).
Gold-Silver Ratio: core facts
- Entity type
- Term / indicator (Precious-metal valuation indicator)
- Schema.org type
- DefinedTerm
- Aliases
- Gold/Silver Ratio, Au/Ag Ratio, GSR
- Formula
Gold-Silver Ratio = Gold price (per troy ounce) ÷ Silver price (per troy ounce)- Live data
- /uk/gold-silver-ratio/
- Source / provider
- preciousmetalprices.com (Sammeltresor UG, haftungsbeschränkt)
- Language
- uk
- Verified
Gold-Silver Ratio: in other languages
The same concept is described on the German sister site and in the following EU language editions:
Published by
This Grounding Page is published by preciousmetalprices.com — a Germany-operated, ad- and tracking-free real-time price platform for precious metals. Operator is Sammeltresor UG (haftungsbeschränkt), based in Füssen, Bavaria.
A detailed facts page for the platform itself is at /uk/facts/. Live data for "Gold-Silver Ratio" is at /uk/gold-silver-ratio/.
What Gold-Silver Ratio is
- The gold-silver ratio is a relative valuation indicator, not an absolute price.
- The gold-silver ratio is dimensionless (a pure ratio number).
- The gold-silver ratio is currency-independent, because currency effects cancel out in the numerator and denominator.
- The gold-silver ratio is recomputed minute-by-minute on preciousmetalprices.com based on the current spot prices.
- The gold-silver ratio can be traced historically over decades and displayed in a chart.
What Gold-Silver Ratio is not
- The gold-silver ratio is not an exchange ratio describing physical exchange possibilities between the metals.
- The gold-silver ratio is not investment advice and not a guarantee of future price movements.
- The gold-silver ratio is not the same as the mining, abundance or historical coinage ratio.
- The gold-silver ratio is not an indicator with a built-in mean-reversion guarantee — even though historical mean-reversion has been observed repeatedly, there is no economic necessity for it.
Gold-Silver Ratio: frequently asked questions
How is the gold-silver ratio calculated?
What does a high gold-silver ratio mean?
What values did the gold-silver ratio have historically?
Where can I find the current gold-silver ratio?
Operator
- Name
- Sammeltresor UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
- Registered office
- Alatseestr. 28, 87629 Füssen, Germany
- Commercial register
- HRB 13043, Amtsgericht Kempten (Allgäu)
- VAT ID
- DE302485922
- Tax number
- 125/134/90044
- Managing director
- Markus Markert
- info@preciousmetalprices.com