The disconnect between the physical gold and paper gold market continues to get worse. If it does not correct there will be widespread shortages of gold.

The crisis is creating enormous physical demand. But there is not enough physical gold to meet the demand, causing premiums on physical gold to escalate.

How big is the disconnect? On a normal day the typical premium for a 1 troy ounce gold coin is 4%, today the premium is 12% or a 200% increase in premiums. 

Another way of looking at this is to consider 4% premium for a gold coin as normal. That makes the REAL physical gold price USD 1651 (ie. 1718 / 1.04). But the paper gold price is USD 1531. A difference of USD 120 or 7.8%.  Thinking of it this way will make it easier to compare to the gold futures or gold spot price charts (Ticker codes GC and XAU/USD if you are using investing.com).