The silver spot price is the amount you’d pay, right at this moment, for purchasing silver right now. The settlement date, which is the day you receive your goods, is usually one or two days following the purchase.

So, what’s the alternative?

Another option is using the “forward price.”

When you purchase goods or commodities–including precious metals–and pay the forward price, you’re paying today’s market rate, but you won’t receive your goods until a future time. The date of receipt of goods is considered to be the settlement date.

Of course, prices of all goods–perishable and non-perishable–are influenced by many different factors.

When it comes to a non-perishable commodity, such as silver, spot price can be a reflection of what the future holds for that commodity. In this case, the price gives you an idea of what analysts expect the market to do in the coming months, in terms of movements in the price.

On the other hand, when it comes to the spot prices of perishable commodities, it’s a different situation. In that case, those prices don’t really come into play when trying to gauge expectations of what the future changes in price may be. That’s because the cost of storing perishable items often adds a considerable amount of cost to the whole equation. By the time we reach the settlement date, they may no longer be viable. For perishable goods, there isn’t a lot of room for forward pricing.

Here’s one example: let’s say it’s August, and grapes are plentiful. The law of supply and demand is a major factor in the cost. So, we can expect that the cost of grapes would be reasonably low. However, we can’t buy February grapes at August prices. As you know, by the time we received our goods in February, those grapes would probably be raisins.

As of this moment, the silver spot price is $34.85, and it’s continuing to slowly trend upward.