How to Read Silver Futures Quotes
Learn to read SI Silver futures quotes by month-year, dollars-per-ounce notation, outright and spread increments, quote fields, TAS context, and data status.
Direct answer
Read an SI Silver futures quote as a complete record: product root, month-year, dollars-per-ounce convention, quote type, price field, source, timestamp, session, and data status. A standard CME Globex outright uses 0.005 USD per ounce, or $25.00 per contract. Calendar spreads use 0.001, and TAS prints track settlement within a ten-tick band. A bare per-ounce number is incomplete.
Start with the SI quoted unit: dollars per troy ounce
SI is quoted in U.S. dollars and cents per troy ounce. The convention gives a quoted price its scale and its contract interpretation when paired with the 5,000-ounce unit. A $1.00 move per ounce equals $5,000 per contract. Do not infer a contract value, spot conversion, or orderable price from digits alone when the quotation unit is absent.
What Silver futures are explains the standard SI unit and deliverable design. Silver futures expiration and delivery shows why an otherwise similar price must still retain its named contract month.
The SI month-year pins a number to one dated agreement
SI names the futures product family, not a single timeless contract. Preserve the month code and year before comparing prices, looking at a chart, or discussing a delivery date. Monthly contracts run 26 consecutive months plus distant July and December listings, so an interface's nearby shorthand is not evidence of a fixed current listing schedule.
Futures contract month codes decodes a compact SI month letter and year into the dated ounce agreement behind the digits. When a quote lacks either field, log it as unknown instead of borrowing the most visible contract's date.
Apply the SI increment only after naming the market path
For an ordinary outright SI trade on CME Globex, 0.005 USD per ounce is the minimum fluctuation, equal to $25.00 per 5,000-ounce contract. That is a contract rule for this quote type, not a universal display precision for silver data or every way a transaction can be submitted.
Futures tick value and contract multipliers runs the SI dollar math once the ounce instrument is fixed. How to read futures contract specifications separates the 5,000-ounce trading unit, the dollars-per-ounce quotation, the market path, and the price increment into four fields.
An SI calendar spread pairs two months at a finer increment
An eligible silver calendar spread is a simultaneous relationship between two SI contract months. The spread minimum is 0.001 USD per ounce, $5.00 for the standard unit, one-fifth the outright step. The finer increment does not merge the two legs into one record: each month and the relationship still need to be retained.
Futures calendar spreads describes why each SI ounce leg and the relationship need to be retained. A TAS print, identified as SIT, tracks the daily settlement price plus or minus up to ten 0.001 ticks, so its market path must not be silently treated as a Globex outright.
Keep the SI price field and data status with the number
A bid, ask, last trade, daily settlement, or another labelled field describes a different observation. The source, timestamp, time zone, session, and status such as real-time, delayed, closed, or indicative complete that label. A continuous chart can also change its underlying month and should not replace a tradable month-year.
Futures settlement price versus last trade explains why an SI daily settlement print and an SI ounce transaction print cannot be swapped just because their prices sit close together.
This guide explains SI quote interpretation. It does not provide a live price, validate a market-data entitlement, recommend an order, or predict silver. Current COMEX rules and a provider's data terms govern a particular observation.
Common questions
Is SI quoted per ounce?
SI is quoted in U.S. dollars and cents per troy ounce. Keep that unit with the price instead of assuming a per-contract figure.
Does SI alone identify a tradable contract?
No. SI identifies the Silver futures product root. A month and year identify the particular contract to which a quote or order field applies.
What is the ordinary SI tick on CME Globex?
For an ordinary outright, the minimum fluctuation is 0.005 U.S. dollar per ounce, equal to $25.00 per standard contract.
What increment do SI calendar spreads use?
Calendar spreads use 0.001 USD per ounce, or $5.00 per standard contract, finer than the outright step. TAS prints also move in 0.001 steps near settlement.
Is an SI settlement field the same as the last trade?
No. Settlement and last trade are distinct labelled fields. Keep each field's contract month, source, observation time, and data status before comparing it.