Registered and Eligible Ounces
What the exchange is, and how its contracts work, is on What Is COMEX?
Inventory on this page is split into Registered (metal with warrants that can be delivered against futures contracts) and Eligible (metal that meets exchange standards but has no warrants — it cannot currently be delivered).
How to read a coverage ratio
The coverage ratio is total vault ounces divided by open-interest ounces. Registered coverage uses only registered ounces in that same comparison. Both are shown as percents. A lower registered coverage means more open-interest ounces for each registered ounce. Eligible ounces are in the vault total, but they have no warrant, so they are not registered coverage. How that gap shows up when you hold metal instead of a futures claim is in Paper Silver vs Physical Silver.
Compare a 1 oz American Silver Eagle and a 1 oz American Gold Eagle with spot on the dealer premiums page. A scraped dealer row is labeled scraped. Every other dealer row is labeled estimated.
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