Gold recently smashed through historic highs, storming past the $5,000 per ounce mark in a rally driven by a perfect storm of factors, including war, political tension and a global rethink of the US dollar. But this dramatic surge is only the latest chapter in an enduring story of booms, busts and long stretches of calm.

From the rigid gold standard of the early 20th century to the unpegged volatility of the modern era, read on to discover gold's rollercoaster ride since the 1920s.

All dollar values in US dollars

For years, gold barely budged. Under the global gold standard and later the Bretton Woods system, the price was effectively fixed by governments rather than markets. In the US, the precious metal was set at $20.67 an ounce in 1834, then raised to $35 in 1934 by the Roosevelt administration and held there for decades.

This era of stability reflected a tightly controlled monetary world, where currencies were tied to gold and international finance was shaped by post-war economic agreements, not investor speculation.

Everything changed when the US finally abandoned the gold standard in 1971, part of the so-called Nixon Shock. Freed to trade on open markets, gold surged to more than $180 an ounce by 1975. A crucial shift came in 1974, when Americans were once again allowed to own monetary gold after a four-decade ban, unleashing a new wave of retail and investor demand.

Runaway inflation, oil shocks and growing distrust of paper money added fuel. This period marked gold's transformation into a truly global, market-driven financial asset.

After its explosive rise, gold lost momentum amid dampening investor enthusiasm. Prices fell back towards $100 an ounce in 1976 as inflation fears eased and confidence in currencies briefly returned.

Professional traders and retail investors, who had piled in expecting further gains, began selling instead, triggering a self-reinforcing downturn.

At the end of 1976, gold began to climb again as demand returned. Buying picked up in the Middle East and Asia, while industrial users rebuilt stocks after prices appeared to have found a floor. The prospect of looser economic policy in the US and renewed concern about inflation drew investors back to bullion.

Despite fresh supplies reaching the market, gold pushed past $150 in early 1977, showing how quickly confidence could return.

Gold's most famous surge, before the latest one at least, came at the end of the 1970s. Spiralling inflation, geopolitical tensions and the Iranian Revolution sent shockwaves through global markets. Investors fled cash and bonds, driving gold to a record near $850 an ounce in 1980.

The rally reflected widespread fear that paper money was losing value, cementing gold's modern reputation as the ultimate hedge against inflation, political instability and monetary breakdown.

Gold's historic 1980 peak marked the start of a prolonged downturn. After prices hit records, US Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker launched his shock therapy, pushing interest rates sharply higher to crush inflation. The move strengthened the dollar, made bonds and savings more attractive, and drained demand from non-yielding assets like gold. Its price plummeted.

As inflation remained stable and confidence in growth and financial markets returned through the 1980s and 1990s, bullion steadily lost favour. By the end of the century, gold prices had dipped below $300 an ounce.

After two decades of stagnation, gold prices shot up again in the early 2000s. The 1999 Washington Agreement capped gold sales by European central banks, and the UK’s final round of auctions under Chancellor Gordon Brown in 2002 heralded an end to large-scale official selling.

Meanwhile, the dot-com crash and 9/11 attacks shook global confidence, while looser monetary policy pushed investors toward bullion. The 2008 financial crisis then supercharged demand, pushing gold to over $1,900 by 2011.

Gold began to slide in 2012 as fears of a financial meltdown eased. The US economy steadied, political standoffs over government debt cooled, and investors drifted back toward stocks and other growth assets.

At the same time, high-profile investors and major banks turned more cautious on gold, even questioning its importance as the leading safe haven asset. By 2015, the price had fallen to $1,077 an ounce, a testament to how swiftly gold can lose its lustre when markets start to feel safer again.

Gold entered a holding pattern in the late-2010s, trading between $1,077 and $1,281 an ounce. Global growth was steady but fragile, while political shocks like Brexit and rising US-China trade tensions kept uncertainty simmering.

Investors treated gold as insurance rather than a headline trade. The precious metal's steady but lacklustre performance during this period reflected a world balancing economic recovery with growing geopolitical and political risks.

The COVID pandemic triggered one of gold's fastest modern rallies. As governments shut down economies and central banks unleashed massive stimulus packages, gold surged beyond $2,000 an ounce for the first time ever.

Investors feared inflation, currency debasement and financial system stress. The crisis only served to reinforce gold's role as a refuge in extreme uncertainty, proving the naysayers of the 2010s very wrong indeed.

After its pandemic-fuelled surge, gold settled into a high but uneasy plateau. As economies reopened, the metal briefly slipped to $1,639 in October 2022, its lowest point of the decade, reflecting optimism about recovery before rampant inflation fully took hold.

Rising interest rates, the war in Ukraine and escalating sanctions then pushed prices back up. In May 2023, they breached the $2,000 per ounce mark once again.

Gold has since skyrocketed in price amid a perfect storm of global uncertainty. Wars, rising trade tensions and fears over President Trump's 'weaponisation' of the US dollar have pushed investors and central banks toward neutral, physical assets.

Heavy government borrowing, expectations of looser monetary policy and a weaker greenback have reinforced gold's appeal. Plus, a newer layer of demand has emerged from cryptocurrency firms.

As a result, the precious metal's price per ounce peaked at an all-time high of $5,595.44 in January 2026. And while the price has since dropped back by around 10%, it remains almost double what it was this time last year.

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