Gold price in May 2008: daily prices, high, low and change
Gold closed May 2008 at $887.30 an ounce, up 2.84% on the month. The highest close was $928.00 on 21 May and the lowest $848.90 on 1 May. Every trading day below, with ranks and context computed from COMEX data.
Gold price chart, May 2008 (daily close and high-low range, US$ per ounce)
Gold line = daily settlement; bars = intraday high to low where available; dashed line = April 2008 close ($862.80).
Daily gold prices in May 2008 (21 trading days)
| Date | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 1 May | — | — | — | $848.90 | −$13.90 | −1.61% |
| Fri 2 May | $853.30 | $857.70 | $853.30 | $856.10 | +$7.20 | +0.85% |
| Mon 5 May | $861.20 | $872.80 | $861.20 | $872.30 | +$16.20 | +1.89% |
| Tue 6 May | $872.30 | $881.40 | $872.30 | $876.00 | +$3.70 | +0.42% |
| Wed 7 May | — | — | — | $869.60 | −$6.40 | −0.73% |
| Thu 8 May | $871.00 | $883.30 | $867.10 | $880.60 | +$11.00 | +1.26% |
| Fri 9 May | $883.90 | $884.70 | $883.90 | $884.50 | +$3.90 | +0.44% |
| Mon 12 May | $879.20 | $886.50 | $879.20 | $883.70 | −$0.80 | −0.09% |
| Tue 13 May | $862.90 | $870.40 | $862.90 | $868.50 | −$15.20 | −1.72% |
| Wed 14 May | $862.80 | $868.60 | $862.80 | $865.40 | −$3.10 | −0.36% |
| Thu 15 May | $865.80 | $886.30 | $865.80 | $879.00 | +$13.60 | +1.57% |
| Fri 16 May best day | $892.00 | $904.20 | $892.00 | $899.00 | +$20.00 | +2.28% |
| Mon 19 May | — | — | — | $905.00 | +$6.00 | +0.67% |
| Tue 20 May | — | — | — | $919.50 | +$14.50 | +1.60% |
| Wed 21 May | — | — | — | $928.00 | +$8.50 | +0.92% |
| Thu 22 May | — | — | — | $917.90 | −$10.10 | −1.09% |
| Fri 23 May | $916.90 | $925.60 | $916.00 | $925.60 | +$7.70 | +0.84% |
| Tue 27 May | $912.00 | $912.00 | $906.50 | $907.70 | −$17.90 | −1.93% |
| Wed 28 May | — | — | — | $900.50 | −$7.20 | −0.79% |
| Thu 29 May worst day | $903.00 | $903.20 | $872.10 | $877.20 | −$23.30 | −2.59% |
| Fri 30 May | $880.20 | $888.50 | $868.60 | $887.30 | +$10.10 | +1.15% |
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 7 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 2008 | Open | High | Low | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settlements | $848.90 | $928.00 | $848.90 | $887.30 | +2.84% |
Settlements: first, highest, lowest and last daily close of the month (the basis used on the 2008 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 2008: summary
Gold climbed 2.84% in May 2008, closing the month at $887.30 an ounce against $862.80 at the end of April 2008. Settlement prices ranged from $848.90 on 1 May 2008 to $928.00 on 21 May 2008, a spread of $79.10 (9.2%), wider than the 7.2% average of the previous 12 months. Gold closed higher on 12 of 21 trading days and lower on 9; the strongest session was 16 May 2008 (+2.28%) and the weakest 29 May 2008 (−2.59%).
How May 2008 compares
- Against other Mays: at +2.84%, May 2008 ranks 6th of 26 Mays since 2001 (best first).
- Against every month: it ranks 105th of 313 months since September 2000, better than 67% of them.
- Range: the gap between the highest and lowest close was $79.10, or 9.2% of the opening level, 1.3× the 7.2% average of the previous 12 months.
- Daily moves: the average day moved 1.18% (up or down), against 0.90% over the previous 12 months, so May 2008 was more volatile than usual.
- Streaks: the longest run of higher closes was 5 days and the longest run of lower closes 3 days.
- Bigger picture: at the month-end close gold was +6.28% for 2008 to the end of May and +34.24% over 12 months (against the May 2007 close of $661.00).
- Average price: the mean of the 21 daily closes was $888.20; the World Bank's monthly average of the London (LBMA) price was $889.00.
Across the other 25 completed Mays since 2001, gold averaged +0.17% and rose in 12 of them (48%). May 2008 beat that average by 2.7 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 2008 in today's dollars
Adjusted for US consumer-price inflation, the $887.30 closing price equals about $1,387 in September 2026 dollars (CPI 215.2 in May 2008 against 336.3 in September 2026, FRED series CPIAUCSL), 56% 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 2008
The gold price in 2008 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 2008?
Gold closed May 2008 at $887.30 an ounce (COMEX settlement). It opened the month at $848.90 and averaged $888.20 across 21 trading days; the World Bank’s London average for the month was $889.00.
Did gold go up in May 2008?
Yes. Gold was up 2.84% in May 2008, from $862.80 at the end of April 2008 to $887.30. It closed higher on 12 of 21 days. Among Mays since 2001 it ranks 6th of 26 (best first).
What was the highest gold price in May 2008?
The highest close was $928.00 on 21 May 2008.
What was the lowest gold price in May 2008?
The lowest close was $848.90 on 1 May 2008, $79.10 (9.2%) 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.