Copper Price Today: What Scrap Yards Actually Pay for Your Wire
Copper hit an all-time high today. Futures are at $6.60 per pound on the COMEX. But if you have wire to sell, the spot price is only half the story. What you actually get paid depends on what form your copper is in when you pull up to the scale.
The Number You See vs. The Number You Get
When you search "copper current price," you're looking at COMEX or LME spot data. That number reflects bare, refined copper on a global exchange. It's a useful reference point, but it's not your price.
Your price is set by the scrap yard. And scrap yards don't pay you spot. They pay a grade-adjusted rate based on the condition of your material. If you bring in insulated copper wire, the yard applies its own recovery formula. They estimate how much copper is actually inside that wire, account for their processing margin, and pay you accordingly. Their estimate. Their margin. Not yours.
How Scrap Yards Grade Copper Wire
Scrap yards sort copper into grades based on one thing: insulation presence. That determines the price per pound.
Why $6.60 Spot Makes Stripping More Valuable Than Ever
The difference between ICW and Bare Bright is a percentage-based spread. When the base price is higher, that spread represents more dollars per pound. Right now, that spread is as wide as it has been in years.
At any consistent weekly volume across a job or a season, those numbers compound. Anyone processing wire regularly and selling it insulated is leaving significant money at the yard at these price levels.
What Wire Stripping Actually Does for Your Payout
Stripping by hand works for small batches. At any real job site volume, Romex, THHN, and heavier cable builds up faster than a knife can process it. The labor cost of hand stripping wipes out most of the gain. And a knife nicks copper. Nicked copper gets downgraded at the yard. You lose on both ends.
A wire stripping machine removes insulation at a consistent rate without nicking the copper underneath. Consistency is the thing that protects your grade.
All StripMeister machines include ULTRA GRIP Feeder Technology as standard. This feeds twisted, kinked, and irregular cable through without jamming. Exactly what job site wire looks like after it has been pulled, coiled, and tossed in a bin. Every model also comes with a built-in Romex adapter, no separate attachment needed, handling the outer jacket and conductors in a single pass.
Matching the Machine to Your Volume
Every model is CNC-machined aircraft-grade aluminum with heat-treated tool steel blades. Made in Canada.
All electric StripMeister models carry TUV, ESA, and CE certifications. The Original Pro is drill-powered and relies on the certification of the drill used to operate it.
The Real Answer to "What Is Copper Worth Today"
At $6.60 per pound on the COMEX, copper is at an all-time high. But that number is not what you get at the yard. Bare Bright copper scrap is paying $4.50 to $4.85 per pound today. Insulated wire is paying $3.20 to $3.70. The difference is over a dollar per pound, and it belongs to you or to the yard depending on what you do before you pull up to the scale.
Strip it. The machine pays for itself at these prices, and then it keeps paying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about copper prices, scrap grades, and wire stripping economics as of May 2026.
Copper futures are trading at approximately $6.60 per pound on the COMEX as of May 13, 2026, near all-time highs. At the scrap yard level, Bare Bright copper is paying $4.50 to $4.85/lb and #1 Insulated Copper Wire is paying $3.20 to $3.70/lb nationally. Prices vary by location and yard.
Spot price reflects refined copper trading on commodity exchanges like COMEX and LME. Scrap copper price is what recycling yards pay for your material, adjusted for grade, condition, and the yard's processing margin. Bare Bright copper tracks closest to spot. Insulated copper wire pays significantly less, currently about 38% below spot.
Bare Bright copper is fully stripped wire, free of all insulation and coatings, unalloyed, and at least 16 gauge. As of May 2026, national rates are running $4.50 to $4.85/lb. It is the highest-paying copper grade at scrap yards.
#1 Insulated Copper Wire (ICW) is paying a national average of approximately $3.53/lb, with a range of $3.20 to $3.70/lb depending on the yard and volume. Romex and lower-recovery wire types pay at the lower end of that range.
At current prices, the spread between #1 ICW and Bare Bright copper is over $1.00 per pound. On a 100 lb load, stripping before selling returns $450 to $485 compared to $320 to $370 for the same wire sold insulated. That difference grows with volume.
Match the machine to your typical wire sizes. For #18 AWG to 250 MCM, the Original Pro or E250 Pro covers most residential and commercial work. For cable up to 500 MCM, the E500 Pro. For industrial wire to 1000 MCM, the E1000. For the heaviest cable, the E2000X.
All electric StripMeister models carry TUV/ESA/CE certifications. Every machine is Made in Canada, built from aircraft-grade aluminum with heat-treated tool steel blades.
