Which average (am or pm) does the Mint use to determine prices?

Nooker

The Mint's price for Platinum didn't go up this week, as I expected it would.

The last week's London PM close prices:

Thu 1/10 - $1621
Fri 1/11 - $1626
Mon 1/14 - $1658
Tues 1/15 - $1690
Wed 1/16 - $1678

my math says that's a $1654.60 average, and a Wed close of $1678 together says it's a Criteria 2, which says it should increase, which puts it in the $1992 Mint Price range.

Mint Pricing Guide

HOWEVER, if I use the London AM close numbers,
$1613
$1626
$1640
$1697
$1660

the average is $1647.20, which would NOT cause a price increase (Criteria 4, since the Wed PM close was in the next range up)

All along I've assumed that they use the PM close numbers for their weekly average, since they use the PM number for the Wed close price, but maybe they use the AM numbers for the weekly average. Their pricing guide does not mention which they use. I've called the Mint, and Customer Service doesn't know.

I would have to go back and do a lot of data analysis to see if there was ever another situation like this where the AM average is in a different range than the PM average.

Mark

OperationButter

Nothing like some great analysis. Good job and let us know your findings!

I feel that you would have noticed if this happened in the prior periods, but could be wrong. Maybe it was just oversight...

Based on the findings today, I would guess that they use AM pricing.

Do you know what time their system rolls over and changes the pricing? If it is early in the morning, maybe the only available "current" market pricing is London AM pricing.

Just thoughts, looking forward to your analysis though!

Nooker

the Mint typically changes their pricing Wednesday's about noon Eastern time. This is after they get the London PM close, which posts around 11am Eastern.

I've gone back over a year, and there is no other instance where this has happened (AM average in a different range than PM average, AND the Wed PM close is in a different range as well, which BOTH need to happen to result in a price change)

Nooker

aha, I may have found the answer. On the "mintnewsblog.com" web site, (who writes that btw, it's really good!), there was an article posted back a while;
MintNewsBlog

In this article, he states that the AM close numbers are used for the weekly average.

I guess I've been using the wrong numbers for over a year. Looking back though, it hasn't changed any results other than this week.

Today, I learned something new


Mark

OperationButter

Thanks for the link, good quick read.

Btw, can I have a mulligan and get PM's at this price? Thanks lol

"When the new policy was adopted, the market price of gold was $827 and the market price of platinum was $964. "

jmski52

Nooker, I'm glad you uncovered the answer. There probably aren't very many people who stay on top of this, but your inputs help this board make timely purchases in a changing market. Thanks for your efforts.

Nooker

glad to help, and it's fun !