Gold all-time high: the record price and every time it was broken

Gold's all-time high right now

The highest daily closing price for gold in our data is $5,318.40 per troy ounce, set on 29 January 2026. Gold has since traded as much as 24.6% below that level, and the card above shows the current distance from the record, recalculated from the live price. Intraday trades on a record day usually go a little higher than the settlement, which is why headlines sometimes quote a slightly higher number than the table.

Every time the record was broken

Gold's record has been broken 235 times since the 1980 peak was finally passed on 2 January 2008, and the breaks come in clusters. The busiest year was 2025, with 55 record closes. Between clusters there are long droughts: the $850 London fix of 21 January 1980 stood for 28 years, and the September 2011 record stood for almost nine. In 2020 the record was broken 10 times in a few summer weeks, then not again until late 2023.

The table shows the gap between consecutive records and how far each one exceeded the last. A long list of small steps a few days apart is the signature of a trending market with persistent buying, as in 2011, 2020, 2024 and 2025. A single large jump after a long gap usually marks a shock.

Why record highs matter to traders

• No overhead supply. Above an all-time high nobody is sitting on a losing position waiting to sell at break-even, so moves can extend further than usual. That is also why they can reverse sharply once buying pauses.
• Attention. Records bring headlines, which bring new buyers (and fresh sellers). Volume and daily ranges tend to expand; see the gold volatility tracker.
• Round numbers. $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 and $5,000 each acted as a barrier for a time, then as a reference level after the break.
• Positioning. Records often coincide with crowded long positioning in futures. Our COT report tracker shows how stretched speculators are.

The 1980 peak in today's money

Nominal records flatter recent prices because the dollar buys less every year. Adjusted with the US Consumer Price Index, the January 1980 fix of $850 is worth about $3,665 in September 2026 dollars, and the September 2011 record of $1,889 is worth about $2,809. The current record of $5,318 is therefore above the 1980 peak in real terms, by about 45.1%. The gold price history page has every year's close on the same inflation-adjusted basis.

Record closes by year

Counting only days that closed above every previous close, the records since 2008 fall in these years: 2008 (21), 2009 (27), 2010 (28), 2011 (37), 2020 (10), 2023 (2), 2024 (45), 2025 (55), 2026 (10). Years that are missing from the list, such as 2012 to 2019 and 2021 to 2022, had no record close at all, however strong the rally; a market can rise for years and still sit below its old peak. The year pages give the open, high, low and close for each: see 2011, 2020, 2024 and 2025.

Which benchmark counts as the record?

There is no single official gold price. The LBMA auction sets a twice-daily London price for physical gold; COMEX futures in New York trade almost around the clock; spot XAUUSD at your broker is a dealer quote in between. The three usually differ by a few dollars, so a record on one benchmark is normally matched on the others within a day or two, but the exact date and level can differ slightly. This page uses COMEX settlements because that is the only full daily series in our public sources, and because it is the same price shown on our live price page.

How the records are calculated

We take the full daily history of COMEX gold futures (from August 2000) and record every day on which the settlement price exceeded every previous settlement. Because daily London fixes for 1968–1999 are not in our public sources, the list is seeded with the documented $850 London afternoon fix of 21 January 1980, the record that stood until January 2008. Only closing or settlement prices count; intraday spikes do not. The data refreshes automatically about once a day, and the card at the top also compares the live futures price with the last record close.

Frequently asked questions

Educational information only, not financial advice and not a forecast. Past prices do not predict future prices. See our risk disclaimer and editorial policy.