Gold price in May 2001: daily prices, high, low and change
Gold closed May 2001 at $265.30 an ounce, up 0.49% on the month. The highest close was $287.40 on 18 May and the lowest $264.40 on 1 May. Every trading day below, with ranks and context computed from COMEX data.
Gold price chart, May 2001 (daily close and high-low range, US$ per ounce)
Gold line = daily settlement; bars = intraday high to low where available; dashed line = April 2001 close ($264.00).
Daily gold prices in May 2001 (22 trading days)
| Date | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 1 May | — | — | — | $264.40 | +$0.40 | +0.15% |
| Wed 2 May | — | — | — | $265.40 | +$1.00 | +0.38% |
| Thu 3 May | — | — | — | $266.30 | +$0.90 | +0.34% |
| Fri 4 May | — | — | — | $266.10 | −$0.20 | −0.08% |
| Mon 7 May | — | — | — | $266.10 | $0.00 | 0.00% |
| Tue 8 May | — | — | — | $265.10 | −$1.00 | −0.38% |
| Wed 9 May | — | — | — | $270.00 | +$4.90 | +1.85% |
| Thu 10 May | — | — | — | $269.10 | −$0.90 | −0.33% |
| Fri 11 May | — | — | — | $267.90 | −$1.20 | −0.45% |
| Mon 14 May | — | — | — | $268.30 | +$0.40 | +0.15% |
| Tue 15 May | — | — | — | $268.10 | −$0.20 | −0.07% |
| Wed 16 May | — | — | — | $272.00 | +$3.90 | +1.45% |
| Thu 17 May | — | — | — | $273.60 | +$1.60 | +0.59% |
| Fri 18 May best day | — | — | — | $287.40 | +$13.80 | +5.04% |
| Mon 21 May | — | — | — | $285.40 | −$2.00 | −0.70% |
| Tue 22 May | — | — | — | $285.10 | −$0.30 | −0.11% |
| Wed 23 May | — | — | — | $283.60 | −$1.50 | −0.53% |
| Thu 24 May | — | — | — | $279.10 | −$4.50 | −1.59% |
| Fri 25 May | — | — | — | $277.90 | −$1.20 | −0.43% |
| Tue 29 May | — | — | — | $273.80 | −$4.10 | −1.48% |
| Wed 30 May worst day | $274.40 | $275.00 | $264.20 | $265.70 | −$8.10 | −2.96% |
| Thu 31 May | $265.10 | $268.10 | $264.80 | $265.30 | −$0.40 | −0.15% |
Close = COMEX gold futures settlement in US dollars per troy ounce; change is against the previous trading day's close. Open, high and low are shown as — on 20 days where the source has no usable intraday data (common before 2012, when the front-month contract traded thinly in the data feed).
Monthly open, high, low and close
| May 2001 | Open | High | Low | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settlements | $264.40 | $287.40 | $264.40 | $265.30 | +0.49% |
Settlements: first, highest, lowest and last daily close of the month (the basis used on the 2001 page and the monthly returns heatmap). Intraday highs and lows are not shown because the source lacks usable intraday data for part of this month.
Source: COMEX gold futures (GC=F) daily settlements and intraday bars via Yahoo Finance; US CPI (FRED CPIAUCSL) for the inflation adjustment; World Bank Pink Sheet for the monthly London average. Figures are final settlements; sources may occasionally revise historical data.
Gold in May 2001: summary
Gold edged up 0.49% in May 2001, from $264.00 at the end of April 2001 to $265.30 an ounce. Gold closed higher on 8 of 22 trading days and lower on 13; the strongest session was 18 May 2001 (+5.04%) and the weakest 30 May 2001 (−2.96%). Settlement prices ranged from $264.40 on 1 May 2001 to $287.40 on 18 May 2001, a spread of $23.00 (8.7%), wider than the 3.4% average of the previous 12 months.
The −2.96% move on 30 May 2001 was the largest one-day fall of 2001.
How May 2001 compares
- Against other Mays: at +0.49%, May 2001 ranks 12th of 26 Mays since 2001 (best first).
- Against every month: it ranks 166th of 313 months since September 2000, better than 47% of them.
- Range: the gap between the highest and lowest close was $23.00, or 8.7% of the opening level, 2.6× the 3.4% average of the previous 12 months.
- Daily moves: the average day moved 0.87% (up or down), against 0.64% over the previous 12 months, so May 2001 was more volatile than usual.
- Streaks: the longest run of higher closes was 3 days and the longest run of lower closes 8 days.
- Bigger picture: at the month-end close gold was −2.46% for 2001 to the end of May.
- Average price: the mean of the 22 daily closes was $272.08; the World Bank's monthly average of the London (LBMA) price was $272.00.
Across the other 25 completed Mays since 2001, gold averaged +0.26% and rose in 12 of them (48%). May 2001 beat that average by 0.2 percentage points. The gold seasonality tool shows the same statistics for every calendar month, and the monthly returns heatmap lays out all Mays side by side.
May 2001 in today's dollars
Adjusted for US consumer-price inflation, the $265.30 closing price equals about $503 in September 2026 dollars (CPI 177.3 in May 2001 against 336.3 in September 2026, FRED series CPIAUCSL), 90% more than the nominal figure. The gold price history hub restates every year's close on the same basis, and the all-time-high tracker lists every record close in nominal dollars.
Gold price by month in 2001
The gold price in 2001 page has the year's open, high, low and close, and the monthly archive on the gold price history hub explains how these month pages are built.
Frequently asked questions
What was the gold price in May 2001?
Gold closed May 2001 at $265.30 an ounce (COMEX settlement). It opened the month at $264.40 and averaged $272.08 across 22 trading days; the World Bank’s London average for the month was $272.00.
Did gold go up in May 2001?
Yes. Gold was up 0.49% in May 2001, from $264.00 at the end of April 2001 to $265.30. It closed higher on 8 of 22 days. Among Mays since 2001 it ranks 12th of 26 (best first).
What was the highest gold price in May 2001?
The highest close was $287.40 on 18 May 2001.
What was the lowest gold price in May 2001?
The lowest close was $264.40 on 1 May 2001, $23.00 (8.7%) below the month’s highest close.
Educational information only, not financial advice and not a forecast. Past prices do not predict future prices. See our risk disclaimer and editorial policy.