Gold bar break-even: 10g needs +9.7%, a 100g bar +6.3%
In short
- At Baird & Co a 10g bar needs gold to rise 9.7% to break even; a 100g bar needs 6.3%.
- A Tavex 1 oz bar needs 4.7%, and a Britannia at Baird 7.2%.
- Break-even is the buy-sell gap divided by the dealer’s buy-back price: how far gold must rise before you are back to even.
The spot price is not what you get back. The real test of a gold purchase is the gap between what a dealer charges and what he pays, and how far the market must move to close it.
What happened
Gold was £3,048 an ounce in HawkValue’s live feed at 06:42 on Saturday, down about 0.8% in 24 hours after Friday’s strong US jobs data. We took the dealer prices on our comparison pages at the same minute: the price you pay (sell price), and the price the dealer pays you (buy-back).
Spot is about £98 a gram (£3,048 an ounce). Here is the picture at the dealers that quote a buy-back price (buy price / buy-back price):
- 10g bar, Baird & Co: £1,038.84 / £946.81. Gap £92.03. Premium over spot 6.0%.
- 1 oz bar, Tavex UK: £3,123.21 / £2,983.80. Gap £139.41. Premium 2.5%.
- 100g bar, Baird & Co: £10,063.43 / £9,468.13. Gap £595.30. Premium 2.7%.
- Britannia 1 oz, Baird & Co: £3,155.81 / £2,944.92. Gap £210.89. Premium 3.5%.
Break-even is simple: the gap divided by the buy-back price. For the 10g bar it is £92.03 against £946.81, or 9.7%. For 100g it is 6.3%, for the Tavex 1 oz bar 4.7% and for the Britannia 7.2%. A Sovereign at Baird (£744.03 / £693.24) needs 7.3%. Figures exclude delivery and any extra charges, and only dealers that quote a buy-back price are included.
What it means for you
Bigger bars cost less per gram and need a smaller move to break even. The trade-off is a larger single outlay and less flexibility: you cannot sell half a bar.
The maths: £1,000 at the cheapest 10g price (Chards, £1,021.98) buys 9.78g; the cheapest 100g price (Chards, £9,999.58) buys 10.00g. Chards does not quote a buy-back price, so we cannot give its break-even. At Baird, selling the 10g bar straight back would return about £947, £92 less than you paid.
Compare all dealers on UK gold prices and run your own numbers in the gold calculator.
Bottom line
In the UK the break-even is 9.7% for a 10g bar at Baird, 6.3% for 100g, 4.7% for a Tavex 1 oz bar and 7.2% for a Britannia. These figures are from 06:42 on Saturday and shift with every move in the gold price and every dealer update.
Sources: HawkValue dealer prices · Rio Times
Gold prices at UK dealers live →
For information only. This is not investment advice.
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