Most stackers track their stack badly, or not at all. They have a vague sense of how many ounces they own, a rough idea of what they paid, and no real picture of where they stand. That works fine when your stack is small. It stops working at some point between your tenth and fiftieth purchase, and by then you have already lost data you cannot get back.
This guide covers what to record, why each field matters, and how often you actually need to look at it. I have been stacking since 2019 and have used four different tracking systems. I will tell you what I learned the hard way.
The fields that matter
For each piece of metal you own, you want six things on record. The first three are about the metal itself. The next three are about the transaction.
Metal: weight, purity, type. Transaction: dealer, date, price.
That is it. You do not need barcodes or serial numbers unless you own bars from refiners that issue them, and even then you only need them for the bars themselves. Six fields per holding. If your tracking system asks for more, it is overengineered.
Weight
Weight should be recorded in the unit that matches the product. If you bought a 1-oz American Gold Eagle, record it as 1 troy oz, not 31.1 grams. If you bought a 100g bar, record it as 100g, not 3.215 troy oz. The conversion is something a tool should do for you when you want to view your portfolio in different units. The source data should match the product.
Why this matters: if you record everything in grams, you will eventually round something. Most apps round to four decimals. A 1/10 oz Gold Eagle is 3.1103 grams, which an app might store as 3.1103 or as 3.1103477 depending on its precision. Three of these and you are off by a tenth of a gram. Across a hundred coins, that is meaningful.
Record it the way it was sold. Trust the math later.
Purity
Purity is where most spreadsheets get sloppy. People type "22K" and "0.9167" and "91.67%" interchangeably and end up with three different formats in the same column.
Pick one format and stick to it. Or use a tool that lets you enter either and converts behind the scenes. The important thing is that the actual number is correct. American Gold Eagles are 22K, which is 0.9167 fine. Krugerrands are also 22K. Maple Leafs are 0.9999. If you are not sure about a coin, look it up before you enter it. Wrong purity numbers compound silently for years.
Type
"Type" means: what is this thing. Silver Eagle, generic round, 10g bar, junk silver pre-1965 dime. Be specific enough that you can later answer "how many Silver Eagles do I own?" without guessing.
Specific does not mean obsessive. "Silver Eagle" is fine. You do not need "2024 Silver Eagle MS70" unless you are a collector, in which case you should be using a numismatic tracker, not a bullion tracker.
Dealer
Record where you bought it. Two reasons. One, if a coin turns out to be counterfeit a year from now, you want to know who sold it to you. Two, after a few purchases you start to see which dealers you actually buy from. Most stackers think they shop around. Most stackers actually use one or two dealers for 80 percent of their stack. Tracking it makes the pattern visible.
Date
Purchase date, not coin year. The coin year is on the coin and does not matter for tracking. Purchase date matters for cost basis if you ever sell, and it lets you see how your buying pace has changed over time. I bought aggressively in 2020. Almost nothing in 2022. A lot in late 2023. Looking at this pattern in retrospect tells me something about how I respond to market conditions, which is useful even if I am not changing strategy.
Price
The total you paid, including premium and shipping, divided by the number of pieces if it was a bulk order. Not spot price at time of purchase. Not "the price tag." What the money actually came out of your account as.
This is your cost basis. If you sell, this is what you compare against the sale price to figure out gains. Even if you never sell, knowing your blended cost basis tells you whether your dollar-cost averaging is actually working.
What you do not need to track
A lot of trackers want you to enter spot price at time of purchase, premium percentage, dealer rating, storage location, and a hundred other fields. You do not need any of these.
Spot price at time of purchase is interesting trivia. It does not affect your cost basis or your future decisions. Premium percentage is a derived number, not a recorded one. If you have purchase price and weight and you know spot at the time, you can calculate premium. So just record purchase price.
Storage location is for insurance, not tracking. Keep it in a separate document, not in your portfolio app. The portfolio app is for what you own. The insurance document is for where it is.
Dealer rating is something you keep in your head. If a dealer screws you over, you remember. You do not need a five-star system.
How often to update
Add new purchases the day you receive them. Not the day you ordered them, the day they arrive in your hands. Coins get lost in the mail sometimes. Counting orders before you have them creates phantom holdings.
Check your portfolio value as often as you want. Daily is fine. Hourly during interesting market moves is fine. Every six months is also fine. The point of tracking is having the answer when you want it, not staring at it constantly.
Audit the whole list once a year. Pull out a spreadsheet or look at your app, then walk to wherever you store your metal. Count it. Match the count to the list. This catches mistakes that have been hiding for months.
The metrics worth looking at
If you only check three things, check these.
Total ounces of gold and silver, separately. Not combined value. Ounces. Your stack in ounces is a real measurement of metal you own. Your stack in dollars is a derivative number that depends on a price someone else sets. Both are useful. The ounce number is more honest.
Allocation between gold and silver. Most stackers drift heavily toward silver because silver is cheaper. After a few years they look up and realize they own 200 oz silver and 1 oz gold. That might be what they wanted. Often it is not. Watching the ratio over time forces you to make the choice consciously.
Cost basis vs. current value. Not for tax reasons. For psychological reasons. When metals are in a downturn, knowing your blended cost basis stops you from panic selling. You see that you bought at an average of $1,800 and gold is now $1,700, and you remember that you were willing to pay $1,800, so being underwater by $100 is not actually a reason to do anything.
What to use
For a few holdings: a notes app or a simple list. Genuinely. Tracking five things does not require software.
For more: a spreadsheet works for a while. The breaking point is usually around 10-15 holdings, multiple currencies, or the moment you forget to update spot prices for a month and your numbers go stale.
For serious tracking: a dedicated app. The right one fetches spot prices automatically, handles your local currency, validates purity entries so you do not type 9999 when you meant .9999, and ideally does not require you to create an account or trust someone else with the data.
One more thing
Whatever system you use, export your data once a quarter. CSV, screenshot, paper. Doesn't matter. Just have a copy somewhere that is not the same place as the original. Apps fail. Spreadsheets corrupt. Phones die. The hour you spend setting up an export schedule pays for itself the first time something goes wrong.
The stack is real. The tracking system is software. Don't confuse them.
Frequently asked questions
What is the easiest way to track gold and silver on iPhone?
For small stacks, a notes app works. For real tracking, a dedicated precious metals app like Stacker pulls live spot prices and supports multi-currency, which a spreadsheet cannot do without setup work.
How often should I update my portfolio?
Add new purchases the day you receive them. Audit your full holdings list once a year by physically counting the metal. Check daily values as often as you want, but the tracking does not have to keep up with you.
Should I record spot price at time of purchase?
No. Record what you actually paid, including premium and shipping. Spot price at the time is interesting but not useful for tracking your cost basis.
What units should I use for weight?
Use the unit the product was sold in. A 1-oz American Eagle is 1 troy oz. A 100g bar is 100g. A good tracker converts between units when you view the data, but the source record should match the product.
Do I need a tracker if I only own a few coins?
No. Five holdings can be tracked in a notes app. The need for a dedicated tool grows with the size and complexity of your stack, especially when you start dealing with multiple currencies or want live spot prices.