Gold price in August 2008: daily prices, high, low and change
Gold closed August 2008 at $829.30 an ounce, down 9.26% on the month. The highest close was $909.00 on 1 Aug and the lowest $786.00 on 15 Aug. Every trading day below, with ranks and context computed from COMEX data.
Gold price chart, August 2008 (daily close and high-low range, US$ per ounce)
Gold line = daily settlement; bars = intraday high to low where available; dashed line = July 2008 close ($913.90).
Daily gold prices in August 2008 (21 trading days)
| Date | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 1 Aug | $904.90 | $916.10 | $902.10 | $909.00 | −$4.90 | −0.54% |
| Mon 4 Aug | $912.70 | $915.30 | $894.40 | $900.10 | −$8.90 | −0.98% |
| Tue 5 Aug | $895.40 | $895.40 | $873.30 | $878.60 | −$21.50 | −2.39% |
| Wed 6 Aug | $880.70 | $885.60 | $875.00 | $875.60 | −$3.00 | −0.34% |
| Thu 7 Aug | $882.20 | $883.80 | $870.30 | $870.70 | −$4.90 | −0.56% |
| Fri 8 Aug | $868.80 | $869.50 | $851.10 | $857.80 | −$12.90 | −1.48% |
| Mon 11 Aug worst day | $858.30 | $863.40 | $818.00 | $821.50 | −$36.30 | −4.23% |
| Tue 12 Aug | $826.40 | $826.40 | $803.60 | $808.20 | −$13.30 | −1.62% |
| Wed 13 Aug | $810.90 | $829.10 | $810.90 | $825.00 | +$16.80 | +2.08% |
| Thu 14 Aug | $831.40 | $831.90 | $805.00 | $808.20 | −$16.80 | −2.04% |
| Fri 15 Aug | $796.90 | $799.20 | $780.90 | $786.00 | −$22.20 | −2.75% |
| Mon 18 Aug | $792.00 | $801.70 | $792.00 | $799.70 | +$13.70 | +1.74% |
| Tue 19 Aug | $789.60 | $814.50 | $789.60 | $811.10 | +$11.40 | +1.43% |
| Wed 20 Aug | $814.90 | $814.90 | $804.70 | $810.30 | −$0.80 | −0.10% |
| Thu 21 Aug best day | $825.80 | $835.60 | $825.80 | $833.00 | +$22.70 | +2.80% |
| Fri 22 Aug | $832.30 | $836.60 | $823.10 | $827.40 | −$5.60 | −0.67% |
| Mon 25 Aug | — | — | — | $819.80 | −$7.60 | −0.92% |
| Tue 26 Aug | — | — | — | $822.20 | +$2.40 | +0.29% |
| Wed 27 Aug | $830.30 | $830.30 | $825.30 | $828.10 | +$5.90 | +0.72% |
| Thu 28 Aug | $828.00 | $842.60 | $824.50 | $830.90 | +$2.80 | +0.34% |
| Fri 29 Aug | — | — | — | $829.30 | −$1.60 | −0.19% |
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 3 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
| August 2008 | Open | High | Low | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settlements | $909.00 | $909.00 | $786.00 | $829.30 | −9.26% |
| Intraday | $904.90 | $916.10 1 Aug | $780.90 15 Aug | $829.30 | — |
Settlements: first, highest, lowest and last daily close of the month (the basis used on the 2008 page and the monthly returns heatmap). Intraday: the highest and lowest traded prices in the daily bars.
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 August 2008: summary
Gold slumped 9.26% in August 2008, from $913.90 at the end of July 2008 to $829.30 an ounce. Gold closed higher on 7 of 21 trading days and lower on 14; the strongest session was 21 August 2008 (+2.80%) and the weakest 11 August 2008 (−4.23%). Settlement prices ranged from $786.00 on 15 August 2008 to $909.00 on 1 August 2008, a spread of $123.00 (13.5%), wider than the 7.9% average of the previous 12 months.
That was the biggest monthly fall since April 2004.
How August 2008 compares
- Against other Augusts: at −9.26%, August 2008 ranks 26th of 26 Augusts since 2001 (best first), the worst since 2001.
- Against every month: it ranks 306th of 313 months since September 2000, better than 2% of them.
- Range: the gap between the highest and lowest close was $123.00, or 13.5% of the opening level, 1.7× the 7.9% average of the previous 12 months.
- Daily moves: the average day moved 1.34% (up or down), against 1.01% over the previous 12 months, so August 2008 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 −0.67% for 2008 to the end of August and +23.22% over 12 months (against the August 2007 close of $673.00).
- Average price: the mean of the 21 daily closes was $835.83; the World Bank's monthly average of the London (LBMA) price was $839.00.
Across the other 25 completed Augusts since 2001, gold averaged +2.97% and rose in 19 of them (76%). August 2008 lagged that average by 12.2 percentage points. The gold seasonality tool shows the same statistics for every calendar month, and the monthly returns heatmap lays out all Augusts side by side.
August 2008 in today's dollars
Adjusted for US consumer-price inflation, the $829.30 closing price equals about $1,275 in September 2026 dollars (CPI 218.7 in August 2008 against 336.3 in September 2026, FRED series CPIAUCSL), 54% 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 August 2008?
Gold closed August 2008 at $829.30 an ounce (COMEX settlement). It opened the month at $909.00 and averaged $835.83 across 21 trading days; the World Bank’s London average for the month was $839.00.
Did gold go up in August 2008?
No. Gold was down 9.26% in August 2008, from $913.90 at the end of July 2008 to $829.30. It closed higher on 7 of 21 days. Among Augusts since 2001 it ranks 26th of 26 (best first).
What was the highest gold price in August 2008?
The highest close was $909.00 on 1 August 2008. The highest intraday price in the daily bars was $916.10 on 1 August 2008.
What was the lowest gold price in August 2008?
The lowest close was $786.00 on 15 August 2008, $123.00 (13.5%) below the month’s highest close. The lowest intraday price was $780.90 on 15 August 2008.
Educational information only, not financial advice and not a forecast. Past prices do not predict future prices. See our risk disclaimer and editorial policy.