Gold price in May 2016: daily prices, high, low and change
Gold closed May 2016 at $1,214.80 an ounce, down 5.77% on the month. The highest close was $1,294.70 on 2 May and the lowest $1,213.80 on 27 May. Every trading day below, with ranks and context computed from COMEX data.
Gold price chart, May 2016 (daily close and high-low range, US$ per ounce)
Gold line = daily settlement; bars = intraday high to low where available; dashed line = April 2016 close ($1,289.20).
Daily gold prices in May 2016 (21 trading days)
| Date | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 2 May | $1,292.10 | $1,304.40 | $1,290.40 | $1,294.70 | +$5.50 | +0.43% |
| Tue 3 May | $1,292.70 | $1,301.50 | $1,284.50 | $1,290.70 | −$4.00 | −0.31% |
| Wed 4 May | $1,286.90 | $1,290.00 | $1,273.00 | $1,273.30 | −$17.40 | −1.35% |
| Thu 5 May | $1,282.90 | $1,286.00 | $1,270.80 | $1,271.40 | −$1.90 | −0.15% |
| Fri 6 May best day | $1,278.60 | $1,295.60 | $1,276.90 | $1,292.90 | +$21.50 | +1.69% |
| Mon 9 May worst day | $1,286.50 | $1,286.50 | $1,262.30 | $1,265.60 | −$27.30 | −2.11% |
| Tue 10 May | $1,265.10 | $1,267.40 | $1,258.70 | $1,263.90 | −$1.70 | −0.13% |
| Wed 11 May | $1,266.90 | $1,279.20 | $1,266.90 | $1,274.60 | +$10.70 | +0.85% |
| Thu 12 May | $1,267.00 | $1,281.20 | $1,264.00 | $1,270.30 | −$4.30 | −0.34% |
| Fri 13 May | $1,271.40 | $1,275.70 | $1,264.60 | $1,271.90 | +$1.60 | +0.13% |
| Mon 16 May | $1,272.80 | $1,287.80 | $1,272.80 | $1,273.40 | +$1.50 | +0.12% |
| Tue 17 May | $1,272.50 | $1,281.60 | $1,270.80 | $1,276.20 | +$2.80 | +0.22% |
| Wed 18 May | $1,276.40 | $1,276.40 | $1,256.80 | $1,273.70 | −$2.50 | −0.20% |
| Thu 19 May | $1,248.00 | $1,255.50 | $1,247.50 | $1,254.20 | −$19.50 | −1.53% |
| Fri 20 May | $1,256.60 | $1,256.60 | $1,252.40 | $1,252.40 | −$1.80 | −0.14% |
| Mon 23 May | $1,251.60 | $1,251.60 | $1,247.50 | $1,251.10 | −$1.30 | −0.10% |
| Tue 24 May | $1,240.00 | $1,240.00 | $1,228.20 | $1,228.90 | −$22.20 | −1.77% |
| Wed 25 May | $1,219.30 | $1,223.50 | $1,218.60 | $1,223.50 | −$5.40 | −0.44% |
| Thu 26 May | $1,232.60 | $1,232.60 | $1,220.10 | $1,220.10 | −$3.40 | −0.28% |
| Fri 27 May | $1,220.30 | $1,223.20 | $1,206.40 | $1,213.80 | −$6.30 | −0.52% |
| Tue 31 May | $1,212.50 | $1,217.60 | $1,199.00 | $1,214.80 | +$1.00 | +0.08% |
Close = COMEX gold futures settlement in US dollars per troy ounce; change is against the previous trading day's close.
Monthly open, high, low and close
| May 2016 | Open | High | Low | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settlements | $1,294.70 | $1,294.70 | $1,213.80 | $1,214.80 | −5.77% |
| Intraday | $1,292.10 | $1,304.40 2 May | $1,199.00 31 May | $1,214.80 | — |
Settlements: first, highest, lowest and last daily close of the month (the basis used on the 2016 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 May 2016: summary
Gold dropped 5.77% in May 2016, from $1,289.20 at the end of April 2016 to $1,214.80 an ounce. Settlement prices ranged from $1,213.80 on 27 May 2016 to $1,294.70 on 2 May 2016, a spread of $80.90 (6.3%), wider than the 5.7% average of the previous 12 months. Gold closed higher on 7 of 21 trading days and lower on 14; the strongest session was 6 May 2016 (+1.69%) and the weakest 9 May 2016 (−2.11%).
The $1,294.70 close on 2 May 2016 was gold's highest since 22 January 2015. On the monthly change, May 2016 was the 2nd-worst May of the 26 since 2001. It ended a run of 4 straight monthly gains.
How May 2016 compares
- Against other Mays: at −5.77%, May 2016 ranks 25th of 26 Mays since 2001 (best first).
- Against every month: it ranks 293rd of 313 months since September 2000, better than 6% of them.
- Range: the gap between the highest and lowest close was $80.90, or 6.3% of the opening level, 1.1× the 5.7% average of the previous 12 months.
- Daily moves: the average day moved 0.61% (up or down), against 0.75% over the previous 12 months, so May 2016 was calmer 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 +14.57% for 2016 to the end of May and +2.14% over 12 months (against the May 2015 close of $1,189.40).
- Average price: the mean of the 21 daily closes was $1,259.59; the World Bank's monthly average of the London (LBMA) price was $1,261.00.
Across the other 25 completed Mays since 2001, gold averaged +0.51% and rose in 13 of them (52%). May 2016 lagged that average by 6.3 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 2016 in today's dollars
Adjusted for US consumer-price inflation, the $1,214.80 closing price equals about $1,705 in September 2026 dollars (CPI 239.6 in May 2016 against 336.3 in September 2026, FRED series CPIAUCSL), 40% 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 2016
The gold price in 2016 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 2016?
Gold closed May 2016 at $1,214.80 an ounce (COMEX settlement). It opened the month at $1,294.70 and averaged $1,259.59 across 21 trading days; the World Bank’s London average for the month was $1,261.00.
Did gold go up in May 2016?
No. Gold was down 5.77% in May 2016, from $1,289.20 at the end of April 2016 to $1,214.80. It closed higher on 7 of 21 days. Among Mays since 2001 it ranks 25th of 26 (best first).
What was the highest gold price in May 2016?
The highest close was $1,294.70 on 2 May 2016. The highest intraday price in the daily bars was $1,304.40 on 2 May 2016.
What was the lowest gold price in May 2016?
The lowest close was $1,213.80 on 27 May 2016, $80.90 (6.3%) below the month’s highest close. The lowest intraday price was $1,199.00 on 31 May 2016.
Educational information only, not financial advice and not a forecast. Past prices do not predict future prices. See our risk disclaimer and editorial policy.