FAIR

Federated and Independent Repositories

Sound Money Info Quotes Widget

Plugin Banner

Sound Money Info Quotes Widget

by Ideal Managed Solutions

Download
Description

Sound Money Info Quotes Widget displays live precious metals and sound money pricing in a clean, customizable ticker for WordPress sites. The plugin retrieves pricing data from trusted third-party sources on a scheduled basis, caches the results locally within WordPress, and renders fast, reliable quote displays without requiring per-page remote API calls.

Quotes are refreshed automatically in the background and displayed on the front end using a lightweight REST render endpoint. Site owners can choose between a static placement or a scrolling (marquee-style) ticker, customize styling, control refresh behavior, and selectively display specific metals or pricing instruments.

Pricing data is provided for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to represent real-time trading or execution prices.

Highlights
* Scheduled background pricing updates with local WordPress caching
* No remote API calls on page load once data is cached
* Static or scrolling (marquee-style) ticker display
* Front-end refresh via REST render endpoint
* Shortcode-based configuration with styling and behavior controls
* Selective display of specific metals and pricing instruments
* Compatible with full-page caching, optimization plugins, and CDNs

This plugin was developed in partnership with SoundMoneyInfo.com and the Citizens for Sound Money as part of an ongoing effort to improve public access to transparent sound money pricing information.

Data Sources, Pricing Calculations, and Update Schedule

The Sound Money Info Quotes Widget displays precious metals and sound money pricing based on a combination of public market data, published issuer rates, and aggregated dealer pricing. Prices are informational only and are not intended to represent real-time trading or execution quotes.

Pricing updates generally follow the COMEX trading schedule and do not update during weekends or during the daily COMEX one-hour trading break, except where issuer- or dealer-published pricing is used.

Update frequency and calculation methods are as follows:

  • Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, and Copper Spot Prices
    Updated every 5 minutes using the latest available COMEX market data.

  • Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Palladium Price per Gram
    Calculated by dividing the respective spot price by 31.1 (grams per troy ounce).

  • Copper per Ounce
    Calculated by dividing the spot price of copper by 16 (copper is quoted per avoirdupois pound, with 16 ounces per pound).

  • Aurum Pricing
    Calculated by dividing the gold spot price by 31,103 (milligrams per troy ounce) and multiplying by 2 to reflect the commonly applied milligram gold (MG) market markup.

  • Gold Eagle, Silver Eagle, and Platinum Eagle Pricing
    Calculated by polling publicly listed prices from major online precious metals dealers and averaging the lowest available prices across the top listings. Dealers may include nationally recognized bullion retailers such as APMEX, SD Bullion, and comparable sources.

  • Goldback Pricing
    Updated once daily based on the officially published exchange rate provided by Goldback, Inc.

  • Kinesis KAU and KAG
    Pricing is sourced directly from the Kinesis Monetary System (Kinesis) API.

All pricing data is cached within WordPress and refreshed on a scheduled basis. Front-end display refresh intervals do not increase external API usage.

Pricing data is provided for educational and informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for trading or investment decisions.

External Services

This plugin connects to an external API to obtain pricing data that is required to render the ticker.

  • Service: Sound Money Info Quotes Data API
  • What it is used for: Returns the latest precious metals and sound money pricing payload used by this plugin.
  • What data is sent and when:
    • The plugin sends an HTTP GET request from your WordPress server to https://api.idealmsp.com/webhook/c4sm/.
    • This request is made on a scheduled basis (every 5 minutes via WP-Cron) and may also run on first use if no cached pricing data exists.
    • No personal user data is intentionally sent. Like any outbound HTTP request, your server IP address and a standard WordPress user agent string may be transmitted as part of the connection.
  • This service is provided by “Ideal Managed Solutions, LLC” Terms of Use / Privacy Policy

The plugin caches the API response locally in WordPress. Front-end refreshes retrieve rendered HTML from your own site via a REST endpoint and do not contact the external API.

Usage

Use the shortcode:

[smiqw_ticker]

The shortcode outputs a live precious metals quotes ticker using cached pricing data.

Shortcode Attributes

  • precision
    Number of decimal places to display for prices.
    Default: 2

  • bg
    Background color of the ticker container.
    Default: #0f172a

  • color
    Text color for quote values and labels.
    Default: #e2e8f0

  • border_color
    Border color for the ticker container. Set to none to disable the border.
    Default: #e2e8f0

  • font_size
    Base font size (in pixels) for quote text.
    Default: 16

  • refresh_sec
    Front-end refresh interval in seconds. This controls how often the displayed data is refreshed from cached values and does not increase API usage.
    Minimum: 5
    Default: 60

  • scroll
    Enable the scrolling (marquee-style) ticker.
    Accepted values: 1, true
    Default: off (static placement)

  • scroll_speed
    Controls the speed of the scrolling ticker. Higher values scroll faster.
    Range: 1–100
    Default: 70

  • show_metals
    Optional comma-separated list of metal groups to display. If omitted, all available quotes are shown.

Supported values:
– AU (Gold quotes)
– AG (Silver quotes)
– PT (Platinum quotes)
– PD (Palladium quotes)
– CU (Copper quotes)
– GB (Goldback quote)
– AURUM (Aurum quote)
– KINESIS (Kinesis KAU and KAG)

Examples

Static ticker with custom styling:

[smiqw_ticker precision=”2″ bg=”#0b1220″ color=”#f8fafc” border_color=”none” font_size=”15″]

Scrolling ticker with slower speed and longer refresh interval:

[smiqw_ticker scroll=”true” scroll_speed=”40″ refresh_sec=”90″]

Display only gold, silver, and Goldback quotes:

[smiqw_ticker show_metals=”AU,AG,GB”]

  1. Upload the plugin folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory, or install the plugin through the WordPress Plugins screen.
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress.
  3. Add the shortcode to any post/page where you want the ticker to appear.
  1. Ticker output example.

    Ticker output example.

Does this plugin call the remote API on every page load?

No. All quote data is cached within WordPress and refreshed automatically via WP-Cron at regular intervals. The front-end ticker and shortcodes render exclusively from cached data using a local REST endpoint, ensuring fast page loads and minimal external API usage.

Will this plugin work on low-traffic sites or sites where WP-Cron does not run reliably?

Yes. If scheduled WP-Cron events are delayed or do not run consistently, the plugin will fetch fresh data automatically when cached data is missing or expired. For maximum reliability and consistent update timing, we recommend configuring a real server cron job to call wp-cron.php.

Is this plugin compatible with page caching and optimization plugins?

Yes. The plugin is designed to work with full-page caching, HTML optimization, and CDN caching solutions. Quote updates are handled asynchronously and do not require cache purges to display refreshed pricing data.

How often are prices updated?

Prices are refreshed automatically on a fixed schedule and displayed in real time from cached data. The refresh interval can be adjusted via shortcode options for front-end display without increasing API usage.

Does enabling the scrolling ticker increase API requests?

No. Scrolling and animation are handled entirely in the browser. Enabling the marquee or adjusting scroll speed does not affect API calls or server load.

2.1.6

  • Removed WordPress.org directory asset images from the plugin ZIP (banners/icons/screenshots are uploaded separately to the repository assets folder after approval).
  • Updated documentation for external API usage (what service is used, what data is sent, and links to terms/privacy).
  • Changed the primary shortcode to a fully prefixed name: [smiqw_ticker].
  • Improved output escaping for rendered values.

2.1.5

  • Added: Scrolling ticker now pauses on hover and resumes automatically when the cursor leaves.

2.1.4

  • Fixed: Static placement “Updated” date/time now centers correctly under the ticker items (matches marquee behavior).
  • Improved: Static placement layout now wraps/flows naturally based on available width and chosen font size (removed fixed “items per line” splitting).
  • Improved: Added reliable container classes to distinguish static vs scrolling output for consistent styling.

2.1.3

  • Fixed: PHP parse error caused by a bracket mismatch in shortcode default attributes effecting ticker display.

2.1.2

  • Fixed: PHP parse error caused by an invalid shortcode default attributes line effecting ticker display.

2.1.1

  • Added: New shortcode attribute show_metals to selectively display quote groups (AU, AG, PT, PD, CU, GB, AURUM, KINESIS). If omitted, all quotes display (default behavior).
  • Improved: Marquee/scrolling ticker now preserves its current scroll position during AJAX refresh (no longer resets back to the first item on refresh).
  • Improved: Static placement output no longer forces a fixed number of entries per line; items wrap naturally.
  • Improved: AJAX render requests now pass through any metal filtering options so server-side output matches user settings.

2.1.0

  • Added additional data points including Platinum, Palladium, Copper, and American Platinum Eagle pricing
  • Improved: Optional scrolling ticker edge fade support (CSS mask) for marquee mode.

2.0.3

  • Add optional smooth scrolling marquee mode via shortcode attributes scroll and scroll_speed.
  • Load marquee JS/CSS only when scrolling is enabled.
  • Preserve marquee structure during AJAX refreshes for seamless, blip-free looping.

2.0.2

  • Made ticker initialization fully cache-safe by storing all config on the widget container as data-* attributes (no inline bootstrap objects)
  • Removed all legacy naming and queue/bootstrap logic to prevent confusing mixed namespaces on optimized/cached pages
  • Added defensive guards in JavaScript so missing/optimized config can never crash the page

2.0.1

  • Fixed an issue where the quote/ticker shortcode stopped auto-updating via AJAX
  • Resolved a JavaScript initialization error caused by a mismatched ticker configuration namespace
  • Restored automatic polling (default 60 seconds, configurable via shortcode) for all quote/ticker shortcodes

2.0.0

  • Rebranded as “Sound Money Info Quotes Widget” from “Simple Precious Metals Ticker”
  • Updated shortcode to [smiqw_ticker]
  • Updated internal slugs/prefixes to smiqw
  • Submitted to WordPress for inclusion in Plugin Repository
Back to top