Gold price in October 2008: daily prices, high, low and change
Gold closed October 2008 at $716.80 an ounce, down 18.01% on the month. The highest close was $903.10 on 8 Oct and the lowest $713.30 on 23 Oct. Every trading day below, with ranks and context computed from COMEX data.
Gold price chart, October 2008 (daily close and high-low range, US$ per ounce)
Gold line = daily settlement; bars = intraday high to low where available; dashed line = September 2008 close ($874.20).
Daily gold prices in October 2008 (23 trading days)
| Date | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 1 Oct | $878.00 | $889.10 | $869.20 | $880.70 | +$6.50 | +0.74% |
| Thu 2 Oct worst day | $870.40 | $870.40 | $829.30 | $839.00 | −$41.70 | −4.73% |
| Fri 3 Oct | $832.50 | $844.30 | $823.00 | $828.90 | −$10.10 | −1.20% |
| Mon 6 Oct best day | $828.80 | $868.80 | $826.00 | $862.70 | +$33.80 | +4.08% |
| Tue 7 Oct | $862.10 | $883.00 | $858.20 | $878.40 | +$15.70 | +1.82% |
| Wed 8 Oct | $879.70 | $915.50 | $877.70 | $903.10 | +$24.70 | +2.81% |
| Thu 9 Oct | $902.70 | $919.70 | $883.00 | $883.10 | −$20.00 | −2.21% |
| Fri 10 Oct | $925.70 | $925.70 | $843.00 | $855.40 | −$27.70 | −3.14% |
| Mon 13 Oct | $861.10 | $861.10 | $830.30 | $838.90 | −$16.50 | −1.93% |
| Tue 14 Oct | $848.10 | $848.10 | $833.50 | $836.30 | −$2.60 | −0.31% |
| Wed 15 Oct | $839.50 | $848.70 | $831.60 | $835.50 | −$0.80 | −0.10% |
| Thu 16 Oct | $846.00 | $846.00 | $790.00 | $801.50 | −$34.00 | −4.07% |
| Fri 17 Oct | $798.00 | $807.00 | $773.80 | $785.10 | −$16.40 | −2.05% |
| Mon 20 Oct | $803.80 | $803.80 | $787.50 | $787.60 | +$2.50 | +0.32% |
| Tue 21 Oct | — | — | — | $766.10 | −$21.50 | −2.73% |
| Wed 22 Oct | $771.70 | $771.70 | $721.00 | $733.30 | −$32.80 | −4.28% |
| Thu 23 Oct | $705.00 | $719.80 | $705.00 | $713.30 | −$20.00 | −2.73% |
| Fri 24 Oct | $715.30 | $734.20 | $681.00 | $729.10 | +$15.80 | +2.22% |
| Mon 27 Oct | $742.80 | $744.50 | $712.00 | $741.70 | +$12.60 | +1.73% |
| Tue 28 Oct | $731.00 | $748.80 | $730.60 | $739.30 | −$2.40 | −0.32% |
| Wed 29 Oct | — | — | — | $752.80 | +$13.50 | +1.83% |
| Thu 30 Oct | — | — | — | $737.20 | −$15.60 | −2.07% |
| Fri 31 Oct | — | — | — | $716.80 | −$20.40 | −2.77% |
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 4 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
| October 2008 | Open | High | Low | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settlements | $880.70 | $903.10 | $713.30 | $716.80 | −18.01% |
| Intraday | $878.00 | $925.70 10 Oct | $681.00 24 Oct | $716.80 | — |
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 October 2008: summary
It was the steepest monthly fall in the daily record, which starts in August 2000. Gold slumped 18.01% in October 2008, from $874.20 at the end of September 2008 to $716.80 an ounce. Settlement prices ranged from $713.30 on 23 October 2008 to $903.10 on 8 October 2008, a spread of $189.80 (21.7%), wider than the 9.6% average of the previous 12 months. Gold closed higher on 8 of 23 trading days and lower on 15; the strongest session was 6 October 2008 (+4.08%) and the weakest 2 October 2008 (−4.73%).
The $713.30 close on 23 October 2008 was the lowest since 14 September 2007.
How October 2008 compares
- Against other Octobers: at −18.01%, October 2008 ranks 26th of 26 Octobers since 2000 (best first), the worst since 2000.
- Against every month: it ranks 313th of 313 months since September 2000, better than 0% of them.
- Range: the gap between the highest and lowest close was $189.80, or 21.7% of the opening level, 2.3× the 9.6% average of the previous 12 months.
- Daily moves: the average day moved 2.18% (up or down), against 1.20% over the previous 12 months, so October 2008 was more volatile than usual.
- Streaks: the longest run of higher closes was 3 days and the longest run of lower closes 7 days.
- Bigger picture: at the month-end close gold was −14.15% for 2008 to the end of October and −9.49% over 12 months (against the October 2007 close of $792.00).
- Average price: the mean of the 23 daily closes was $801.99; the World Bank's monthly average of the London (LBMA) price was $807.00.
Across the other 25 completed Octobers since 2000, gold averaged +0.86% and rose in 13 of them (52%). October 2008 lagged that average by 18.9 percentage points. The gold seasonality tool shows the same statistics for every calendar month, and the monthly returns heatmap lays out all Octobers side by side.
October 2008 in today's dollars
Adjusted for US consumer-price inflation, the $716.80 closing price equals about $1,111 in September 2026 dollars (CPI 217.0 in October 2008 against 336.3 in September 2026, FRED series CPIAUCSL), 55% 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 October 2008?
Gold closed October 2008 at $716.80 an ounce (COMEX settlement). It opened the month at $880.70 and averaged $801.99 across 23 trading days; the World Bank’s London average for the month was $807.00.
Did gold go up in October 2008?
No. Gold was down 18.01% in October 2008, from $874.20 at the end of September 2008 to $716.80. It closed higher on 8 of 23 days. Among Octobers since 2000 it ranks 26th of 26 (best first).
What was the highest gold price in October 2008?
The highest close was $903.10 on 8 October 2008. The highest intraday price in the daily bars was $925.70 on 10 October 2008.
What was the lowest gold price in October 2008?
The lowest close was $713.30 on 23 October 2008, $189.80 (21.7%) below the month’s highest close. The lowest intraday price was $681.00 on 24 October 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.