Gold price history: 1968 to today
Every year of the freely traded gold price: open, high, low, close and the inflation-adjusted value, with an interactive chart from one year to all of history. Public data, refreshed automatically.
Gold price chart, 1968 to today (US dollars per troy ounce)
Monthly average London gold price (World Bank Pink Sheet). Latest record close marked.
Gold price by year (open, high, low, close)
| Year | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | Average | Close in September 2026 dollarsinflation-adjusted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | $4,329.60 | $5,318.40 | $3,992.10 | $4,010.00 | −7.6% | $4,530.99 | $4,010 |
| 2025 | $2,669.00 | $4,552.70 | $2,647.40 | $4,341.10 | +64.4% | $3,466.09 | $4,478 |
| 2024 | $2,073.40 | $2,800.80 | $2,004.30 | $2,641.00 | +27.5% | $2,404.71 | $2,796 |
| 2023 | $1,846.10 | $2,093.10 | $1,817.10 | $2,071.80 | +13.4% | $1,954.52 | $2,257 |
| 2022 | $1,800.10 | $2,043.30 | $1,630.90 | $1,826.20 | −0.1% | $1,805.19 | $2,055 |
| 2021 | $1,946.60 | $1,954.40 | $1,678.00 | $1,828.60 | −3.5% | $1,798.91 | $2,190 |
| 2020 | $1,524.50 | $2,069.40 | $1,477.30 | $1,895.10 | +24.7% | $1,776.81 | $2,432 |
| 2019 | $1,281.00 | $1,550.30 | $1,269.30 | $1,519.50 | +18.9% | $1,392.72 | $1,976 |
| 2018 | $1,313.70 | $1,362.40 | $1,176.20 | $1,278.30 | −2.1% | $1,267.60 | $1,701 |
| 2017 | $1,160.40 | $1,346.00 | $1,160.40 | $1,306.30 | +13.6% | $1,257.70 | $1,773 |
| 2016 | $1,075.10 | $1,364.90 | $1,073.90 | $1,150.00 | +8.5% | $1,249.71 | $1,594 |
| 2015 | $1,186.00 | $1,300.70 | $1,050.80 | $1,060.30 | −10.4% | $1,158.84 | $1,500 |
| 2014 | $1,225.00 | $1,379.00 | $1,142.30 | $1,183.90 | −1.5% | $1,265.82 | $1,685 |
| 2013 | $1,687.90 | $1,692.80 | $1,195.00 | $1,201.90 | −28.2% | $1,408.66 | $1,722 |
| 2012 | $1,599.70 | $1,794.10 | $1,536.20 | $1,674.80 | +7.0% | $1,668.84 | $2,436 |
| 2011 | $1,422.60 | $1,888.70 | $1,318.40 | $1,565.80 | +10.2% | $1,572.14 | $2,317 |
| 2010 | $1,117.70 | $1,421.10 | $1,052.20 | $1,421.10 | +29.8% | $1,227.50 | $2,168 |
| 2009 | $878.80 | $1,217.40 | $806.70 | $1,095.20 | +23.9% | $974.15 | $1,695 |
| 2008 | $857.00 | $1,003.20 | $704.90 | $883.60 | +5.8% | $870.98 | $1,406 |
| 2007 | $635.20 | $839.60 | $604.90 | $834.90 | +31.4% | $697.01 | $1,328 |
| 2006 | $530.70 | $719.80 | $526.30 | $635.20 | +22.8% | $604.22 | $1,052 |
| 2005 | $428.70 | $528.40 | $412.60 | $517.10 | +18.2% | $445.27 | $878 |
| 2004 | $424.40 | $456.00 | $374.80 | $437.50 | +5.2% | $409.52 | $768 |
| 2003 | $346.10 | $416.90 | $321.50 | $415.70 | +19.6% | $363.72 | $754 |
| 2002 | $278.90 | $349.20 | $278.10 | $347.60 | +24.7% | $310.48 | $643 |
| 2001 | $268.40 | $293.30 | $255.10 | $278.70 | +2.8% | $271.04 | $528 |
| 2000 | $284.00 | $300.00 | $266.00 | $271.00 | −4.2% | $279.04 | $522 |
| 1999 | $287.00 | $311.00 | $256.00 | $283.00 | −3.1% | $278.75 | $564 |
| 1998 | $289.00 | $308.00 | $284.00 | $292.00 | +1.0% | $294.08 | $597 |
| 1997 | $355.00 | $355.00 | $289.00 | $289.00 | −21.7% | $331.17 | $601 |
| 1996 | $399.00 | $405.00 | $369.00 | $369.00 | −4.7% | $387.58 | $780 |
| 1995 | $379.00 | $391.00 | $377.00 | $387.00 | +2.1% | $384.17 | $846 |
| 1994 | $387.00 | $392.00 | $377.00 | $379.00 | −1.0% | $383.92 | $849 |
| 1993 | $329.00 | $392.00 | $329.00 | $383.00 | +14.3% | $359.67 | $880 |
| 1992 | $354.00 | $354.00 | $335.00 | $335.00 | −7.5% | $343.67 | $792 |
| 1991 | $384.00 | $384.00 | $349.00 | $362.00 | −4.0% | $362.25 | $881 |
| 1990 | $410.00 | $417.00 | $352.00 | $377.00 | −7.9% | $383.50 | $945 |
| 1989 | $404.00 | $409.39 | $362.00 | $409.39 | −2.3% | $381.45 | $1,090 |
| 1988 | $477.00 | $477.00 | $407.00 | $419.00 | −13.8% | $437.08 | $1,167 |
| 1987 | $408.00 | $486.00 | $401.00 | $486.00 | +24.3% | $446.42 | $1,414 |
| 1986 | $347.00 | $424.00 | $339.00 | $391.00 | +21.4% | $367.75 | $1,187 |
| 1985 | $303.00 | $330.00 | $299.00 | $322.00 | +0.6% | $318.00 | $989 |
| 1984 | $371.00 | $394.00 | $320.00 | $320.00 | −17.5% | $360.50 | $1,020 |
| 1983 | $481.00 | $491.00 | $382.00 | $388.00 | −12.8% | $422.58 | $1,287 |
| 1982 | $384.00 | $445.00 | $315.00 | $445.00 | +8.5% | $375.75 | $1,532 |
| 1981 | $557.00 | $557.00 | $409.00 | $410.00 | −23.8% | $459.75 | $1,465 |
| 1980 | $675.00 | $675.00 | $514.00 | $538.00 | +18.2% | $607.83 | $2,094 |
| 1979 | $227.00 | $455.00 | $227.00 | $455.00 | +118.8% | $306.75 | $1,990 |
| 1978 | $173.00 | $227.00 | $173.00 | $208.00 | +30.0% | $193.17 | $1,030 |
| 1977 | $132.00 | $162.00 | $132.00 | $160.00 | +19.4% | $147.67 | $864 |
| 1976 | $131.00 | $134.00 | $110.00 | $134.00 | −3.6% | $124.83 | $772 |
| 1975 | $176.00 | $180.00 | $139.00 | $139.00 | −24.5% | $160.92 | $841 |
| 1974 | $129.00 | $184.00 | $129.00 | $184.00 | +72.0% | $159.25 | $1,192 |
| 1973 | $65.00 | $120.00 | $65.00 | $107.00 | +67.2% | $97.33 | $777 |
| 1972 | $46.00 | $67.00 | $46.00 | $64.00 | +48.8% | $58.17 | $506 |
| 1971 | $38.00 | $43.00 | $38.00 | $43.00 | +16.2% | $40.92 | $352 |
| 1970 | $35.00 | $38.00 | $35.00 | $37.00 | +5.7% | $35.83 | $313 |
| 1969 | $42.00 | $43.00 | $35.00 | $35.00 | −14.6% | $40.92 | $312 |
| 1968 | $36.00 | $41.00 | $36.00 | $41.00 | — | $38.92 | $387 |
Monthly figures are averages of the London (LBMA) price, which differs slightly from the COMEX futures price used for the daily figures here and on the rest of the site. The two normally sit within a few dollars of each other. Yearly open, high, low and close use daily COMEX settlements from 2001 onward and monthly averages before that, so early years do not show intraday extremes (the January 1980 spike to $850, for example, appears as a $675 monthly average).
Source: World Bank Commodity Markets (Pink Sheet) monthly London gold prices; COMEX gold futures (GC=F) daily settlements; US CPI (FRED series CPIAUCSL). Data updated ; refreshed automatically about once a day. Figures are indicative and may be revised by the sources.
Gold's price history in one view
Gold has been freely priced for little more than half a century. Before 1968 its dollar price was fixed by governments; since then it has moved through two long bull markets, one 20-year bear market and the extraordinary run of the 2020s. This page puts the whole record in one place: a chart you can zoom from one year to all of history, a table of every year's open, high, low and close, and the same figures adjusted for inflation. Use the yearly links to open a page for any single year since 1970, or jump to the all-time-high tracker for every record close.
Over 58 completed and current years in the table, gold finished higher in 35 and lower in 23. The best year was 1979 (+118.8%) and the worst was 2013 (−28.2%). The lowest yearly figure since 1968 was $35.00 in 1969.
The eras of the gold price
- 1968–1971: the end of the fixed price. After the London Gold Pool broke down in March 1968, gold traded in a free market for private buyers while governments still settled at $35. The yearly table starts here, with gold averaging $38.92 in 1968.Driver: the dollar's gold backing becoming unsustainable as US deficits grew.
- 1971–1980: the first great bull market. The Nixon shock of August 1971 floated the price. Two oil shocks, double-digit inflation and the Iranian revolution took gold from $35 to a London fix of $850 on 21 January 1980, a 24-fold rise in under nine years. The 1980 monthly averages ran from $514.00 to $675.00.Drivers: inflation, negative real interest rates, geopolitical shocks, a weak dollar.
- 1980–2001: the 20-year bear market. Paul Volcker's Federal Reserve pushed interest rates toward 20%, inflation fell, and the dollar strengthened. Central banks sold reserves through the 1990s, and the UK's 1999 sales marked the bottom of sentiment. In 2001 gold averaged just $271.04.Drivers: high real interest rates, disinflation, central-bank selling, a strong equity market.
- 2001–2011: the second bull market. Rate cuts after the dot-com bust, a weakening dollar, the launch of gold ETFs in 2004 and then the 2008 financial crisis and quantitative easing took gold to a new record near $1,900 in September 2011. Gold opened the year at $1,422.60, ranged between $1,318.40 and $1,888.70, and closed at $1,565.80 (+10.2%) that year.Drivers: negative real yields, dollar weakness, crisis demand, easier access through ETFs.
- 2011–2015: the correction. The 'taper tantrum' of 2013, a recovering US economy and a strong dollar cut the price by more than 40% from the 2011 peak to the December 2015 low, days after the Fed's first rate hike since 2006.Drivers: rising real yields, dollar strength, ETF outflows.
- 2016–2020: recovery and a new record. The Fed's 2019 pivot to rate cuts and then the COVID-19 response (rates to zero, unlimited asset purchases) lifted gold above $2,000 for the first time in August 2020. Gold opened the year at $1,524.50, ranged between $1,477.30 and $2,069.40, and closed at $1,895.10 (+24.7%) in 2020.Drivers: collapsing real yields, fiscal and monetary stimulus, safe-haven demand.
- 2022–today: the run past $5,000. Gold shrugged off the fastest Fed tightening cycle in 40 years, supported by record central-bank buying after Western sanctions froze Russia's reserves, and then accelerated as rate cuts began in 2024: $2,500 and $2,700 in 2024, $3,000, $3,500 and $4,000 in 2025, and a record close of $5,318.40 on 29 January 2026. Gold has since pulled back 24.6% from that record.Drivers: central-bank reserve diversification, geopolitical risk, rate cuts, heavy ETF and retail inflows.
What drove each move
Across all of these eras the same handful of forces keep appearing, which is why our guide to what moves gold is the best companion to this page:
- Real interest rates. Gold pays no interest, so when yields after inflation are high (1980s, 2013) it struggles, and when they are negative (1970s, 2008–2011, 2020) it tends to rise. Track the relationship on our real yields and dollar tracker.
- The US dollar. Gold is priced in dollars, so a weaker dollar lifts the price for the rest of the world and vice versa. Every major gold bull market has coincided with a weaker dollar.
- Central banks. They were net sellers from the late 1980s to 2009 and have been net buyers since, with purchases accelerating sharply after 2022.
- Crises and inflation. Oil shocks, wars, bank failures and pandemics bring short bursts of demand; persistent inflation brings longer ones.
- Access. US ownership was legal again from 1975, gold ETFs arrived in 2004, and retail and online buying widened the market in the 2020s.
Nominal versus real: what the inflation adjustment shows
A dollar in 1980 bought far more than a dollar today, so comparing raw prices across decades understates how extreme the 1980 peak was. The right-hand column of the table restates each year's close in September 2026 dollars using the US Consumer Price Index. On that basis the January 1980 fix of $850 is worth about $3,665 today, so the current record of $5,318 is above the 1980 peak in real terms. Gold's 2001 average of $271.04 equals roughly $513 in today's money, which shows how cheap gold became at the end of the bear market.
Two things to keep in mind. First, inflation-adjusted figures depend on which price index you use; CPI is the standard choice but not the only one. Second, real returns are what matter for anyone holding gold across decades, so a flat nominal price over ten years is a loss in purchasing power, as holders found between 1980 and 2000.
About the data
Monthly figures are averages of the London (LBMA) price as published in the World Bank's Commodity Markets 'Pink Sheet', which is public and goes back to 1960. Daily figures from 2001 onward are COMEX gold futures settlements, the same series used on our live price page and in the free tools. The LBMA price is a twice-daily auction price for physical gold in London; COMEX futures trade almost 24 hours a day and usually sit a few dollars above or below it. Inflation adjustment uses the US CPI from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED). The whole dataset refreshes automatically about once a day, and you can download the yearly table as a CSV above.
Frequently asked questions
What was the gold price in 2000?
In 2000 gold averaged $279.04 an ounce (monthly averages of the London price). The year’s monthly figures ranged from $266.00 to $300.00, and December 2000 averaged $271.00. See the 2000 page for the month-by-month table.
What is the highest gold price ever?
The highest daily closing price in our data is $5,318.40 on 29 January 2026 (COMEX settlement). Intraday trades went slightly higher that day. Before 2008 the record was the London fix of $850 on 21 January 1980. Our all-time-high tracker lists every record close.
What was the gold price 10 years ago?
Ten years ago, in October 2016, gold averaged $1,267 an ounce. Today it trades near $4,010, a change of +216.5%. The stat cards at the top of this page update automatically.
Has gold ever gone to zero?
No. Gold has been valued as money for thousands of years and has never been worth nothing. Its lowest yearly figure since the price was freed in 1968 was $35.00 in 1969. It can still fall a long way: it lost more than 40% between 2011 and 2015 and about 75% in real terms between the end of 1980 and the end of 2001.
What is the gold price adjusted for inflation?
The inflation-adjusted price restates past prices in today’s dollars using the CPI. The 1980 peak of $850 equals about $3,665 in September 2026 dollars. The right-hand column of the yearly table shows every year’s close on the same basis.
How much has gold risen since 1971?
From a fixed $35 an ounce in early 1971 to about $4,010 today is a rise of roughly 115 times, or about 9.0% a year compounded. US consumer prices rose about 8 times over the same period.
Where does this gold price history come from?
Monthly prices since 1968 are averages of the London (LBMA) gold price from the World Bank Commodity Markets ‘Pink Sheet’. Daily figures since 2000 are COMEX gold futures settlements. Inflation adjustment uses the US CPI (FRED series CPIAUCSL). The LBMA price and COMEX futures differ slightly, usually by a few dollars. Everything updates automatically about once a day.
Educational information only, not financial advice and not a forecast. Past prices do not predict future prices. See our risk disclaimer and editorial policy.