Spot price

The spot price is the price paid for a commodity delivered and settled immediately, or within the market's normal short delivery window, rather than at a future date.

The spot price is the number most people mean when they ask what a commodity “costs.” It reflects what a buyer must pay today for physical material at a named place and quality. Spot prices respond fastest to disruptions because there is no time to wait for new supply: a port closure, a strike, or a frost shows up in the spot price before it moves anything else.

Most published commodity prices, including those in the World Bank’s Pink Sheet, are spot or near-spot assessments for a specific grade and location. A spot price for copper refers to cash metal on an exchange; a spot price for coffee refers to a stated grade at a stated port.

When spot rises above the price of later delivery, the market is in backwardation; when it sits below, the market is in contango. The difference between spot and futures is explained in spot vs futures.