Gold Price History: A Long-Range Chart and a Year-by-Year Table
$4,141.50 per troy ounce, today
Record close $5,318.40 on January 29, 2026
Gold spot $4,141.50/oz · updated
Quick answer: Gold trades today at $4,141.50 per troy ounce. The highest daily close in our data is $5,318.40, set on January 29, 2026, and the lowest close since that peak is $3,992.10 on July 16, 2026. Gold has moved roughly 15 times higher since the start of 2000. The chart below shows the whole path, and the table after it gives each year's open, close, high, low and change.
The long-range chart
The chart runs from 2000 to today. Its line follows COMEX gold futures closes, which sit very slightly above the spot price in the big number at the top of the page: today the gap is +$26.10, or +0.6%. The last point of the line moves with the live figure each time the page refreshes.
Gold price, 2000 to today
Longer ranges use weekly and month-end closes, which smooth over spikes inside a single week or month.
Data sources: Spot price via api.gold-api.com · COMEX futures (GC=F) via Yahoo Finance. Prices are for informational purposes only and may be delayed. Figures on this page were generated . Gold is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce.
The chart starts in 2000, but gold's story starts earlier, and the eras section below covers what came before our data.
Year by year
The table lists, for each calendar year, the opening price, the closing price, the high, the low and the percentage change from the start to the end of the year. A year with a large range between high and low can end close to where it began, so read the change column together with the range, not on its own.
| Year | Open | Close | High | Low | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | $274 | $272 | $274 | $270 | -0.6% |
| 2001 | $266 | $279 | $292 | $258 | +4.9% |
| 2002 | $282 | $317 | $326 | $282 | +12.3% |
| 2003 | $368 | $416 | $416 | $336 | +12.9% |
| 2004 | $402 | $438 | $451 | $387 | +8.8% |
| 2005 | $422 | $517 | $517 | $422 | +22.6% |
| 2006 | $562 | $635 | $652 | $562 | +13.1% |
| 2007 | $652 | $835 | $835 | $648 | +28.1% |
| 2008 | $923 | $884 | $972 | $717 | -4.2% |
| 2009 | $927 | $1,095 | $1,095 | $891 | +18.1% |
| 2010 | $1,083 | $1,421 | $1,421 | $1,083 | +31.2% |
| 2011 | $1,334 | $1,566 | $1,828 | $1,334 | +17.4% |
| 2012 | $1,710 | $1,675 | $1,771 | $1,563 | -2.1% |
| 2013 | $1,661 | $1,251 | $1,661 | $1,224 | -24.7% |
| 2014 | $1,240 | $1,184 | $1,321 | $1,171 | -4.5% |
| 2015 | $1,278 | $1,060 | $1,278 | $1,060 | -17.1% |
| 2016 | $1,116 | $1,150 | $1,349 | $1,116 | +3.0% |
| 2017 | $1,253 | $1,306 | $1,316 | $1,241 | +4.3% |
| 2018 | $1,339 | $1,278 | $1,339 | $1,192 | -4.5% |
| 2019 | $1,320 | $1,466 | $1,519 | $1,283 | +11.1% |
| 2020 | $1,583 | $1,895 | $1,979 | $1,564 | +19.7% |
| 2021 | $1,847 | $1,829 | $1,902 | $1,714 | -1.0% |
| 2022 | $1,795 | $1,826 | $1,985 | $1,641 | +1.7% |
| 2023 | $1,870 | $2,072 | $2,090 | $1,817 | +10.8% |
| 2024 | $2,050 | $2,655 | $2,755 | $2,017 | +29.5% |
| 2025 | $2,812 | $4,341 | $4,553 | $2,715 | +54.4% |
| 2026 | $4,745 | $4,168 | $5,318 | $3,992 | -12.2% |
The eras that shaped the chart
Before 1971: a fixed price. For decades the US government set the dollar price of gold by law. It moved from about twenty dollars an ounce to thirty-five in 1934 and stayed there, and private ownership of gold bullion by Americans was restricted. On 15 August 1971 the United States ended the dollar's convertibility into gold, and the price was free to move. Americans were permitted to own gold bullion again in 1975.
1980: the first spike. A burst of inflation and geopolitical crises sent the price to a peak of about eight hundred and fifty dollars an ounce on 21 January 1980. It then fell for years. By 1999 gold had dropped to roughly two hundred and fifty dollars, a low helped by central banks in the UK and Europe selling reserves. Adjusted for inflation, that 1980 peak would be somewhere in the mid-three-thousands in today's dollars, and it took until January 2008 for gold to regain the nominal level, about twenty-eight years later.
2008 to 2011: the long climb. Gold crossed a thousand dollars for the first time in March 2008, then rose through the financial crisis as interest rates fell and central banks bought bonds in large quantity. It reached roughly nineteen hundred dollars intraday in September 2011.
2013 to 2015: the hangover. In April 2013 gold fell more than 13 percent in two days, one of the sharpest drops in modern records. It sank to about one thousand and fifty dollars in December 2015. The 2011 high was not regained until August 2020, nearly nine years on.
2020: the next breakout. Gold had its first close above two thousand dollars in August 2020, during the early pandemic period of low rates and heavy government spending.
2022 to 2025: the central banks. According to the World Gold Council, central banks bought record amounts of gold in 2022 and 2023. 2025 was widely reported as the strongest calendar year for gold since 1979, with the price passing four thousand dollars in the autumn.
The record. The highest daily close in our series is $5,318.40, reached on January 29, 2026 in 2026. Since then the lowest close has been $3,992.10 on July 16, 2026, which makes the deepest closing drawdown from the record −24.9%. Where today's price stands relative to the record is 21.6%, and it is recalculated on every refresh.
What moved the price
No single factor explains a move, and anyone claiming one does is simplifying. These are the forces analysts most often point to, and each one is a tendency, not a rule.
- Interest rates. Gold pays no interest, so when rates on safe bonds fall, holding it costs less in forgone income, and demand tends to rise. When rates climb, the pull the other way tends to hold gold back.
- The dollar. Gold is priced in dollars, so a weaker dollar often lifts the dollar price even if the value to buyers elsewhere has not changed.
- Central-bank buying. Governments that hold reserves can be large, steady buyers, and their purchases in recent years have been a prominent part of the story.
- Crises and uncertainty. Wars, banking stress and market sell-offs have often sent buyers toward gold, though not every crisis has.
- Buying demand from households and jewelers. In India and China especially, jewelry and coin buying follow price, festivals and income.
These are explanations after the fact. The same factors have pointed in opposite directions at different times.
What a price history does and doesn't tell you
A history shows where the price has been. It does not show where it is going, and no pattern in it is a guarantee. The 1980 peak looked like a new era, and it took roughly twenty-eight years to be regained. The gains after 2008 looked permanent for about two years and then stalled for most of a decade. Moves of more than 20 percent in either direction have happened often enough that anyone holding gold should expect them.
It also cannot tell you what your own gold is worth. The figures here are for pure gold at spot, quoted per troy ounce. Jewelry is usually a lower karat, so value drops by its purity, and a coin or bar is sold at a premium and bought back at a discount. For your own piece, use the gold value calculator, then compare against what a buyer actually offers on the melt value vs. resale page. This site is a data reference, not advice on whether to buy or sell.
Related pages
- How to read a gold value chart for timeframes, scales and what a line hides
- Gold coin value chart and gold bar value chart for melt value by product
- Gold value by karat for jewelry purity
- Where to buy gold for what to ask a dealer
Gold price history FAQ
What was the highest price gold has ever reached?
In our data, the highest daily close was $5,318.40 on January 29, 2026. The highest intraday price, at any moment of the day, was $5,586.20.
How far has gold fallen from its record?
The deepest drop in closing prices since the record has been −24.9%, bottoming at $3,992.10 on July 16, 2026. Today's distance from the record is 21.6%.
How much has gold risen since 2000?
The price is roughly 15 times what it was at the start of the century, when it traded near two hundred and seventy-four dollars. The multiple changes whenever the live price does.
Why did gold fall so much after 2011?
Analysts most often point to expectations of higher interest rates, a stronger dollar and a pullback in buying demand after the run-up. The April 2013 drop was over 13 percent in two days, and prices did not exceed the 2011 high until August 2020.
When did the US stop pegging gold to the dollar?
On 15 August 1971, the government ended the dollar's convertibility into gold. Private bullion ownership, restricted since 1933, was restored for Americans in 1975.
Is the chart's price the same as the live number?
Close, not identical. The live figure is the spot price, while the chart plots COMEX gold futures closes, which normally sit a little higher. The gap now is +$26.10.
Does gold always rise during a crisis?
No. Some crises have sent buyers toward gold and others have not, and sell-offs have at times pulled gold down along with other assets. History shows tendencies, not rules.
Data sources: Spot price via api.gold-api.com · COMEX futures (GC=F) via Yahoo Finance. Prices are for informational purposes only and may be delayed. Figures on this page were generated . Gold is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce.