Smash Scrap Morning Metals Report – August 18, 2026
Prices as of August 18, 2026 at 07:31 AM CDT.
Market screen levels only — not yard pay prices. Actual buy prices at the scale will differ based on grade, moisture, contamination, and freight. The scrolling ticker at the top of this page shows live prices and may differ from the snapshot below.
All tracked metals are lower today.
Jump to:
- Gold — $4,392/oz ▼
- Silver — $65.00/oz ▼
- PGMs — Rh ▸ $8,800 · Pt ▼ $1,748 · Pd ▼ $1,300
- Copper — $6.55/lb ▼
- Aluminum — $1.47/lb ▼
- Steel Scrap — $413.00/mt ▸
- Macro Backdrop
- CAD — USD/CAD 1.3865
Smash Scrap Takeaways for Today
- Gold & Silver — Use today’s dip to move only clean, well-documented cats and PM-bearing scrap; sit on hairy or mixed lots until buyers sharpen bids again.
- PGMs — With platinum and palladium down but rhodium flat, tighten your cat grading and photo documentation on SMASH so top buyers can separate the good cores from the junk and bid up what they really want.
- Copper — Price is about 5 cents lower; keep holding back small, mixed, or dirty copper and focus on building full, clean loads with solid photos and weights before you launch an auction.
- Aluminum — Price is softer but still stuck in a tight range; keep stripping contamination and separating cast, sheet, and extrusion so you don’t eat avoidable discounts when you post loads.
- Big Picture — 0 of 8 metals are up today, 6 are lower and 2 are flat, so treat this like a buyer’s tape and let auctions create your price instead of chasing one-off bids.
Macro Backdrop — Energy and Risk
Brent Crude Oil: $91.17/bbl, down $0.0400 (-0.04%) day-over-day.
US Dollar Index (DXY): 99.61, down 0.35 (-0.35%) day-over-day.
**Oil is still hot, but the dollar is softer.** Brent sits at **$91.17** a barrel, down just **4 cents**. The **DXY** is off to **99.61**, and **USD/CAD** is **1.3865**. That keeps the macro tone mixed, not cleanly bullish or bearish.
Higher **10Y yields** at **4.68%** and a **2Y** at **4.17%** keep pressure on risk assets. Inflation expectations are still near **2.28%**, so the market is not out of the woods. For scrap, that means watch freight, watch financing, and do not chase every pop. **Use the data. Let the auction show the real price.**
Gold — Safe-Haven Indicator
- Spot Gold (XAU): $4,392/oz, down $22.00 (-0.50%) day-over-day. Previous close: $4,414/oz.
- 5-day trend: ↑ 3 of last 5 sessions.
**Gold is still rich, but today it took a small step back.** Gold is around **$4,392/oz**, down about **0.5%** on the day, even though it has risen in **3 of the last 5 sessions**. For you, this means clean gold cats, boards, and jewelry scrap still draw strong interest, but buyers may use today’s dip to push bids down a touch — don’t expect panic, just tighter spreads and more focus on well-documented, tested material.
Silver — Industrial & Precious Hybrid
- Spot Silver (XAG): $65.00/oz, down $0.7365 (-1.12%) day-over-day. Previous close: $65.73/oz.
- 5-day trend: ↑ 3 of last 5 sessions.
- Gold/Silver ratio: 67.6:1.
Silver is down today, sitting around **$65/oz**, about **74 cents lower**, even though the 5-day trend is still up. Oil is still hot and the dollar is softer, but silver is taking a breather, and the gold/silver ratio near **68:1** says silver is not cheap. If you are selling cats, cores, or other silver-bearing scrap, expect buyers to stay picky on assays and paperwork before they chase loads.
Precious Metals (PGM) — Screen Indicators
- Platinum (Pt): $1,748/oz, down $21.00 (-1.19%) day-over-day. Previous close: $1,769/oz. MoM: +9.9%.
- Platinum 5-day trend: ↑ 3 of last 5 sessions.
- Palladium (Pd): $1,300/oz, down $9.00 (-0.69%) day-over-day. Previous close: $1,309/oz. MoM: +5.7%.
- Palladium 5-day trend: ↑ 3 of last 5 sessions.
- Rhodium (Rh): $8,800/oz, flat day-over-day. Previous close: $8,800/oz. MoM: +6.7%.
- Rhodium 5-day trend: ↑ 2 of last 5 sessions.
Platinum and palladium are **down today**, but both have still pushed higher in **3 of the last 5 sessions**. Rhodium is **flat at $8,800/oz**, and with oil still hot but the dollar softer, buyers have room to move but are staying picky. If you’re selling cats or PGM-bearing scrap, expect tight bids today and make sure your loads are clean and well-documented before you shop them.
Copper — Current Indicators
- COMEX/Spot Copper: $6.55/lb, down $0.0545 (-0.82%) day-over-day. Previous close: $6.61/lb.
- 5-day trend: ↓ 3 of last 5 sessions.
**Copper is slipping again, so buyers have the upper hand today.** Copper is around **$6.55/lb**, down about **5 cents** and lower in **3 of the last 5** sessions. Oil is still hot and the dollar is softer, but that isn’t lifting copper yet, so expect picky bids and bigger discounts on mixed or dirty copper loads.
Aluminum — Current Indicators
- LME Aluminum: $3,233/tonne ($1.47/lb), down $0.0118 (-0.80%) day-over-day. Previous close: $1.48/lb.
- 5-day trend: ↓ 3 of last 5 sessions.
**Aluminum is still soft for scrap sellers.** It’s at **$1.47/lb**, down about **1 cent** today, and the 5-day tape is **down 3 of 5 sessions**. Cleaner loads and tight sort matter more when the market is chopping lower, even with Brent still hot at **$91.17**.
Steel Scrap (Shredded (SHS), scrapmonster) — Current Indicators
- Steel Scrap Shredded (SHS) (SCRAP-SHS): $413.00/mt, flat day-over-day. Previous close: $413.00/mt.
- 5-day trend: → flat over last 5 sessions.
- HMS 1&2 (80:20) (SCRAP-HM): $366.00/mt (flat day-over-day).
Want to move PGM-bearing material, copper, aluminum, or steel scrap through competitive bidding? List your lots on Smash Scrap and let vetted buyers compete for your scrap.
