If you visit our charts or somewhere else, you’re likely to see a quoted price for copper. Generally speaking, copper prices are the spot price for a pound of the material. However, you can also find prices per troy ounce and, ostensibly, kilo if you need a different amount.

Copper spot prices are a reflection of the going rate for copper on copper futures contracts. Specifically, the spot prices bear the value of the soonest-expiring futures contracts on exchanges worldwide. In essence, it’s the amount that they draw for immediate payment. Or, more simply, it’s the price to buy the standard amount of metal.

JM Bullion uses live feeds to create an open window for you into the copper market (and the markets of other metals). We update our prices on a minute-by-minute basis so that you can make the most timely decisions about buying and selling possible.

The bid price of any precious metal is the maximum amount that a seller can receive for their metal. So, it’s the price you can charge if you’re selling your metal (absent premiums or other charges).

The ask price is the other side of the deal from the bid price. It is the maximum amount that you can expect to pay if you are buying copper (absent other charges). The ask is almost always higher than the bid price.

It’s not just us. Unless you mine the copper yourself, you are going to have to pay a premium over the ask price to purchase copper. All dealers, including JM Bullion, have a surcharge on their copper pieces to compensate us for making it easy to buy copper. Generally, we have some of the lowest premiums on purchases, but you should always shop around multiple dealers. In some cases, there are even “sales” where a dealer might drop its premium lower for a period of time.

Copper is almost always traded in US dollars. In fact, if an investor wants to use a different currency, they are merely going to receive the converted rate based on the currency’s relationship to the dollar.

It has to be, or keen investors would swoop into the scene and make out like bandits. As mentioned, copper always begins in terms of dollars, so this amount is the same around the globe.

Copper prices vary for the same reason as almost any other commodity - changes to the supply or demand for the metal. As supply increases or demand decreases, the price goes down. Similarly, decreases in supply and/or increases in demand lead to a higher price.

Now, the factors that can affect these two metrics are often economic or geopolitical concerns. If an economy is suffering or there are inflationary concerns, the demand for copper tends to increase. Changes to trading policies or currency valuations can also cause the price of copper to go one way or the other. Like all precious metals, copper investors are usually looking to preserve the value of their wealth in the concrete tangibility of copper and its ongoing intrinsic value.

No more than other commodities or most other investments. There are periods of intense growth or decline, and there are also times when the price drifts one way or the other. It’s even fairly common for the price to remain steady for an extended period of time.

In general, however, copper tends to be a bit less swingy than its other precious metal cohorts. It’s rather abundant on the supply side, but its numerous commercial and industrial uses mean that the demand for it is rather unwavering.

Yes. Because copper is traded in countries across the globe, someone is always open for business with copper. So, even though you may have to trade with someone on a different continent, you can always do business with copper, night or day.

Constantly. Even though the spot price reflects those soon-to-expire futures contracts, there is also an effect from the demand for those same contracts that may push the price up or down.

As we mentioned above, the spot price for copper reflects the futures contracts that will expire in the shortest period of time. However, just for clarity, a futures contract (of any kind) is an agreement to purchase a certain amount of an item for a certain price at a defined time in the future. In theory, a futures contract buyer would acquire the actual product they purchased, but they rarely do.

Probably not. Their obscurity and associated risks make them more trouble than they’re worth to the common investor. Precious metals traders buy futures for a living; all of us mortals are better off sticking to buying actual pieces of copper directly.

You can, but ETFs bear their own problems. With a copper ETF, you are buying a financial instrument backed by copper, rather than copper itself. As such, there are different factors that will affect the value of the ETF beyond the price of the metal itself.

Because face values are a determination of a government’s law and/or mint, they don’t mirror the running price of the metal. In fact, changing metal prices are often the reason that you see mints and governments changing their coins’ compositions. In most cases, the value of the metal outpaces the face value at some point - so you’re better off buying for the copper content than the face value.

Copper is one of the least-expensive precious metals to buy, so you likely have the means to buy a decent amount of it. Your best choices for building your stack up are bars, rounds, and - for flavor - bullets. Coins tend to be a bit trickier and have to be purchased in great quantities to build up a store of them.

You cannot simply purchase wheat pennies for one cent a piece because of two reasons. The first one is the one mentioned in the question above, where the metal content is worth more than the face value. The other issue is that wheat pennies have a certain collectible value and bear their own individual demand.

You lock in a price with a dealer. The copper price is a moving target, to be sure, but if you enter into an agreement with an online dealer or retailer, your price won’t change anymore. So, the dealer will quote you the price at the moment, and that’s the price you will choose to pay (or not).

You can, but it has some drawbacks. We’re biased, obviously, but copper dealers do offer the opportunity to complete a transaction within minutes. You walk into the store, buy your copper, and walk out with the copper in hand. However, you should realize that you’re going to be paying for both the convenience and the cost of keeping the store open. If you want the best deals, you have to buy online.

Not at all. In fact, you should shop around for the best prices both online or in-person. The spot price is the same across the board, of course, but there are differences based upon the premiums that each dealer charges for a purchase (or sale).

As with other precious metals, copper often varies inversely with the stock market. A healthy stock market leads to more people riding things out with fiat currency, rather than seeking out copper. However, this relationship is not absolute, and it is very possible to see both the stock market and the price of copper moving in the same direction.

Possibly, but it's not likely. Price manipulation does happen, but copper’s low visibility likely makes it avoid being targeted by bad actors, either traders or governments. In other words, copper is probably too boring to fall victim to monkey business - but it’s not a bad idea to do your own research, too.

When you buy copper, the only tax you’ll have to pay is the applicable sales tax in your state. However, if you sell your copper, you may find yourself eligible for capital gains tax - similar to the tax you pay if you sell shares of stock.

An assay is a certification from an independent entity that confirms the purity and content of your copper pieces. So, possession of an assay makes it easier for you to trade your copper more easily because you don’t have to prove that it’s legitimate.

No. Precious metals are often expressed as ounces, but these are troy ounces. A troy ounce is roughly 11% more than a standard ounce in terms of their weight or mass.

A troy ounce of copper equates to 31.103 grams.

Each kilogram of copper is composed of 32.151 troy ounces of the metal.

We sell copper wheat pennies, copper bars, copper rounds, and copper bullets.

Right here! Head over to our copper page to find the format that you want, and get started right now.

Unfortunately, no. IRA eligibility only extends to gold, silver, platinum, and palladium at this time.