APMEX Review 2026: OPRS Assessment

Updated: July 31, 2026

OPRS may receive compensation when readers open an account through partner links on this page. Our analysis is based on independent research, BBB data, and IRS publications.

APMEX, in short (2026 review)

Status: Active and trading. The APMEX website was live at the time of review and is running an active IRA marketing funnel through its dedicated IRA landing.
Business model: Primarily a large online bullion retailer (APMEX LLC, Oklahoma City). The precious metals IRA program is an optional add-on funneled through third-party custodians, not a full-service gold IRA specialist.
Verified regulatory record: Zero filings by APMEX or American Precious Metals Exchange as an SEC issuer on EDGAR. No public CFTC or FTC enforcement release naming APMEX surfaced during the OPRS review.
Custodian and depositories: Equity Trust Company is the named default custodian on the APMEX IRA page, with STRATA Trust and The Entrust Group also displayed as preferred options. IRS-approved depositories are used for storage but the specific vault is set by the custodian, not APMEX.
Public transparency gap: APMEX does not publish setup, annual custodian, or storage fees on its public IRA page. Those numbers are set by the custodian and require a direct quote before you can compare offers.
Our stance: Reasonable large bullion marketplace, but not a shortlist gold IRA specialist. 3 of 27+ gold IRA dealers reviewed by OPRS make the 2026 trusted list. APMEX is not one of them, primarily because its IRA program is a bullion-retailer add-on rather than a dedicated retirement offering with published fees.

Table of contents show

Who is APMEX?

APMEX (American Precious Metals Exchange) is one of the largest online bullion dealers in the United States. The company is registered as APMEX LLC and operates from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Its main business is selling physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins and bars to retail buyers.

The IRA offering is a smaller line of business grafted onto that bullion marketplace. A prospect who wants a self-directed precious metals IRA fills out an application, an IRS-approved custodian takes over the paperwork, and APMEX supplies the IRA-eligible metals. The underlying rules are set by IRS Publication 590-A and 26 U.S.C. section 408, both cited in full at the bottom of this page.

What we could verify from primary sources

Zero-invention rule. Every claim below was pulled directly from the named primary source and cross-checked before this page was written. If a document could not be reached live, the claim is not made.

Company is still trading in 2026. The APMEX homepage is protected by a bot-mitigation layer that blocks server-side rendering, but an Internet Archive capture of the APMEX IRA landing dated 2026-06-10 confirms an active product funnel, a listed toll-free number (800-375-9006, extension 805 for IRAs), and copyright text reading “2026 APMEX LLC. All Rights Reserved.”
Named custodian. The APMEX IRA page shows Equity Trust Company as the default custodian for a new APMEX Precious Metals IRA. The same page also displays STRATA Trust Company and The Entrust Group as preferred alternative custodians.
Named depositories. Storage is handled by whichever IRS-approved depository the chosen custodian uses. APMEX does not lock a buyer into a single vault. Buyers should confirm the exact vault name and whether storage is commingled or segregated at the time of account opening.
SEC EDGAR. A full-text EDGAR search returns zero filings where APMEX or American Precious Metals Exchange is the registrant. APMEX only appears in third-party filings (for example, unrelated public issuers naming APMEX as a bullion supplier). APMEX is not a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer, which is normal for a bullion retailer but worth stating.
CFTC and FTC public records. A review of the CFTC press-release archive and the FTC public case archive at the time of writing surfaced no enforcement action naming APMEX. Absence of a public enforcement release is not an endorsement. It is the current documentary record.
2026 IRA rules that APMEX cites are consistent with the IRS. The APMEX IRA page repeats the standard IRS eligibility and rollover rules under Publication 590-A. The 2025 IRA contribution ceiling of $7,000 (or $8,000 for savers age 50 and older) and the RMD starting age of 73 under SECURE 2.0 are both in line with IRS guidance.

Where transparency is thin

The numbers a serious retirement buyer needs before signing are not published on the APMEX public IRA page as of this review:

Setup fee. Not published on the APMEX page. Set by the custodian, disclosed on the account application.
Annual custodian fee. Not published. Set by Equity Trust, STRATA, or Entrust depending on the selection.
Annual storage fee. Not published on the APMEX page. Set by the depository, and can be flat or scaled with account value.
Minimum IRA investment. Not published as a hard dollar floor on the APMEX IRA page. Ask the custodian and APMEX directly, and get the number in writing before you commit.
Buy-to-sell spread. The retail-buy versus wholesale-spot spread on individual IRA-eligible products is not published as a formula. Spread economics are the main driver of long-run return in a metals IRA, and buyers should always ask for it before ordering.
Named IRA buy-back price schedule. APMEX does run a buy-back program on its bullion side, but a fixed IRA-specific buy-back price formula is not published on the public IRA page.

None of this is unusual in the metals-IRA industry. It is still friction. A gold IRA specialist that prints setup, annual, and storage fees on the public site is easier to compare than one that leaves the pricing to the custodian and the sales call. That gap is a scored line item in our custodian-selection framework.

Third-party ratings we could verify

Third-party review platforms move fast, and star ratings that were valid last month can be different this week. Every claim below is anchored to the primary source. Do not treat any snapshot as a live number.

Better Business Bureau. APMEX carries a BBB profile in Oklahoma City. Because the BBB profile page is served through a bot-mitigation layer, OPRS was not able to render the live BBB letter grade and current complaint totals from a server at the time of writing. The public BBB profile URL is listed in the sources section below. Verify the current BBB grade and the trailing complaint count directly on the BBB profile the day you rely on it.
Trustpilot. APMEX has a Trustpilot profile with a large historical review volume. Trustpilot scores fluctuate. Confirm the current TrustScore and the total review count directly on Trustpilot the day you rely on them.
Litigation. A private-litigation record for a company this size will move over time. Buyers who want to check should search CourtListener for federal filings, and cross-check any state Attorney General complaint database if a specific state matters to them.

None of the above constitutes a regulatory finding of fault against APMEX. It is a factual snapshot of what a reader can and cannot verify from primary sources on the date of review.

How to pressure-test APMEX, or any gold IRA dealer

The same short checklist applies to every retailer, including a large bullion house like APMEX. The full decision framework lives at how to choose a gold IRA custodian framework.

Ask for the total first-year cost in dollars, on a $50,000 rollover, including setup, annual custodian, storage, and any product markup. Get it in writing.
Ask for the named IRS-approved custodian by name, and confirm the entity appears on the IRS list of qualified nonbank trustees under 26 CFR 1.408-2(e).
Ask for the named depository vault and whether storage is commingled or segregated. Segregated is safer and it costs more.
Ask for the buy-back policy in writing. What price will the dealer pay for the exact coins they are about to sell you, if you liquidate in 12 months?
Confirm every metal quoted meets IRS purity standards under 26 U.S.C. section 408(m). Ask for the mint and the fineness in writing.
Compare the retail-buy price on the same product across at least two independent dealers on the same day, at the same spot price. That is the only reliable way to size the spread.

Investors who feel they were mis-sold have specific recourse steps documented at what to do if you were scammed by a gold IRA dealer. Pattern signals we watch for during the sales call are catalogued at gold IRA cold call scripts decoded and at how to vet a gold IRA dealer without a finance background.

Where APMEX sits on the OPRS list

Not on the shortlist. APMEX is a large, functioning bullion marketplace with a normal custodian pairing (Equity Trust, with STRATA and Entrust as alternates). The IRA program itself is a bullion-retailer add-on, not a dedicated retirement offering.

The gap that keeps APMEX off the OPRS 2026 shortlist is not a scandal. It is the missing public fee schedule and the retailer-first structure of the account.

Only 3 of 27+ gold IRA dealers reviewed by OPRS pass the full checklist. The ones that do publish a comparable fee schedule and stand up an IRA-specialist workflow. If APMEX publishes a full public IRA fee schedule and a named buy-back price formula in a future update, that ranking is worth revisiting. This page will be refreshed if that happens.

For a broader comparison, the working shortlist and the anti-shortlist both live at gold IRA dealers to avoid. The gold IRA rollover mechanics guide is the correct companion read for a first-time buyer who is comparing dealers.

FAQ

Is APMEX a scam?
No public regulator has labeled APMEX a scam at the time of writing. SEC EDGAR returned zero filings where APMEX is the registrant, and no public CFTC or FTC enforcement release naming APMEX surfaced during the OPRS review. Absence of a regulatory action is not an endorsement. It is the current record.

Is APMEX still in business in 2026?
Yes. The APMEX homepage and the APMEX IRA landing were both live at the time of review, and the Internet Archive capture of the IRA page from June 2026 shows an active funnel and current copyright text.

Who is the APMEX IRA custodian?
Equity Trust Company is the default custodian named on the APMEX IRA page. STRATA Trust Company and The Entrust Group are also shown as preferred alternative custodians. Prospects should still confirm the chosen custodian is on the IRS list of qualified nonbank trustees maintained under 26 CFR 1.408-2(e).

Where is APMEX IRA metal stored?
Storage is at an IRS-approved depository selected by the custodian. The exact vault name and whether the storage is commingled or segregated should be confirmed in writing with the custodian at account opening.

What is the APMEX minimum IRA investment?
Not published as a hard dollar floor on the APMEX IRA page. Third-party summaries have quoted various figures over the years, but OPRS does not repeat unverified numbers as fact. Ask APMEX and the chosen custodian directly, and get the current minimum in writing.

Does APMEX publish its IRA fees?
No. Setup, annual custodian, and storage fees are set by the custodian and the depository, and none of those numbers are printed as a public schedule on the APMEX IRA page. This opacity is the single largest reason APMEX is not on the OPRS 2026 shortlist for a retirement buyer who wants a full pre-signature cost comparison.

Where does OPRS rank APMEX for a gold IRA?
Not on the shortlist. 3 of 27+ gold IRA dealers reviewed by OPRS make the 2026 trusted list. The full list, and the anti-shortlist of dealers to avoid, lives at gold IRA dealers to avoid.