Gold price in December 2008: daily prices, high, low and change
Gold closed December 2008 at $883.60 an ounce, up 8.26% on the month. The highest close was $883.60 on 31 Dec and the lowest $750.50 on 5 Dec. Every trading day below, with ranks and context computed from COMEX data.
Gold price chart, December 2008 (daily close and high-low range, US$ per ounce)
Gold line = daily settlement; bars = intraday high to low where available; dashed line = November 2008 close ($816.20).
Daily gold prices in December 2008 (22 trading days)
| Date | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 1 Dec worst day | $817.20 | $817.30 | $766.00 | $774.60 | −$41.60 | −5.10% |
| Tue 2 Dec | $765.30 | $786.00 | $759.70 | $781.30 | +$6.70 | +0.86% |
| Wed 3 Dec | $780.00 | $781.90 | $762.90 | $768.80 | −$12.50 | −1.60% |
| Thu 4 Dec | $770.00 | $780.40 | $761.70 | $763.80 | −$5.00 | −0.65% |
| Fri 5 Dec | $764.50 | $769.60 | $740.00 | $750.50 | −$13.30 | −1.74% |
| Mon 8 Dec | $755.00 | $780.20 | $754.20 | $767.40 | +$16.90 | +2.25% |
| Tue 9 Dec | $775.00 | $776.50 | $762.30 | $772.40 | +$5.00 | +0.65% |
| Wed 10 Dec best day | $784.10 | $811.00 | $783.10 | $807.10 | +$34.70 | +4.49% |
| Thu 11 Dec | $803.40 | $832.10 | $801.00 | $824.90 | +$17.80 | +2.21% |
| Fri 12 Dec | $821.50 | $827.00 | $813.80 | $818.90 | −$6.00 | −0.73% |
| Mon 15 Dec | $828.00 | $842.00 | $824.00 | $835.40 | +$16.50 | +2.01% |
| Tue 16 Dec | $839.00 | $859.00 | $831.60 | $841.70 | +$6.30 | +0.75% |
| Wed 17 Dec | $854.40 | $880.80 | $849.30 | $867.50 | +$25.80 | +3.07% |
| Thu 18 Dec | $862.40 | $873.00 | $852.00 | $859.60 | −$7.90 | −0.91% |
| Fri 19 Dec | $846.60 | $852.10 | $833.30 | $836.40 | −$23.20 | −2.70% |
| Mon 22 Dec | $848.50 | $851.00 | $844.00 | $846.20 | +$9.80 | +1.17% |
| Tue 23 Dec | $848.00 | $848.00 | $835.00 | $837.20 | −$9.00 | −1.06% |
| Wed 24 Dec | $838.90 | $848.90 | $838.50 | $847.10 | +$9.90 | +1.18% |
| Fri 26 Dec | $847.00 | $872.40 | $845.80 | $870.40 | +$23.30 | +2.75% |
| Mon 29 Dec | — | — | — | $874.60 | +$4.20 | +0.48% |
| Tue 30 Dec | $878.10 | $878.10 | $866.50 | $869.30 | −$5.30 | −0.61% |
| Wed 31 Dec | $860.00 | $883.60 | $858.40 | $883.60 | +$14.30 | +1.65% |
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 1 day 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
| December 2008 | Open | High | Low | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settlements | $774.60 | $883.60 | $750.50 | $883.60 | +8.26% |
| Intraday | $817.20 | $883.60 31 Dec | $740.00 5 Dec | $883.60 | — |
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 December 2008: summary
Gold soared 8.26% in December 2008, from $816.20 at the end of November 2008 to $883.60 an ounce. Settlement prices ranged from $750.50 on 5 December 2008 to $883.60 on 31 December 2008, a spread of $133.10 (16.3%), wider than the 11.4% average of the previous 12 months. Gold closed higher on 13 of 22 trading days and lower on 9; the strongest session was 10 December 2008 (+4.49%) and the weakest 1 December 2008 (−5.10%).
On the monthly change, December 2008 was the 2nd-best December of the 26 since 2000.
How December 2008 compares
- Against other Decembers: at +8.26%, December 2008 ranks 2nd of 26 Decembers since 2000 (best first).
- Against every month: it ranks 20th of 313 months since September 2000, better than 94% of them.
- Range: the gap between the highest and lowest close was $133.10, or 16.3% of the opening level, 1.4× the 11.4% average of the previous 12 months.
- Daily moves: the average day moved 1.76% (up or down), against 1.36% over the previous 12 months, so December 2008 was more volatile than usual.
- Streaks: the longest run of higher closes was 4 days and the longest run of lower closes 3 days.
- Bigger picture: at the month-end close gold was +5.83% for 2008 to the end of December and +5.83% over 12 months (against the December 2007 close of $834.90).
- Average price: the mean of the 22 daily closes was $822.67; the World Bank's monthly average of the London (LBMA) price was $816.00.
Across the other 25 completed Decembers since 2000, gold averaged +1.18% and rose in 16 of them (64%). December 2008 beat that average by 7.1 percentage points. The gold seasonality tool shows the same statistics for every calendar month, and the monthly returns heatmap lays out all Decembers side by side.
December 2008 in today's dollars
Adjusted for US consumer-price inflation, the $883.60 closing price equals about $1,406 in September 2026 dollars (CPI 211.4 in December 2008 against 336.3 in September 2026, FRED series CPIAUCSL), 59% 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 December 2008?
Gold closed December 2008 at $883.60 an ounce (COMEX settlement). It opened the month at $774.60 and averaged $822.67 across 22 trading days; the World Bank’s London average for the month was $816.00.
Did gold go up in December 2008?
Yes. Gold was up 8.26% in December 2008, from $816.20 at the end of November 2008 to $883.60. It closed higher on 13 of 22 days. Among Decembers since 2000 it ranks 2nd of 26 (best first).
What was the highest gold price in December 2008?
The highest close was $883.60 on 31 December 2008. The highest intraday price in the daily bars was $883.60 on 31 December 2008.
What was the lowest gold price in December 2008?
The lowest close was $750.50 on 5 December 2008, $133.10 (16.3%) below the month’s highest close. The lowest intraday price was $740.00 on 5 December 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.