Learn About Gold
Plain-English guides to how gold is priced, bought and held, written to still be right a year from now. For what is happening today, see the market news.
Start here
New to gold? Read these first, in this order.
How the gold price works
What sets the price, what moves it, and how it has behaved over the decades.
What moves the gold price: 8 drivers explained
Interest rates, the dollar, central banks, fund flows, Asian demand, inflation, shocks and supply, each sized on our own price data since 1968.
9 min read
Gold price history and the all-time high
From $38 an ounce in 1968 to a $5,426 record in January 2026: the bull runs, the crashes and the inflation-adjusted peak, on our own daily data.
8 min read
Why does gold fall when interest rates rise?
Gold pays no interest, so higher rates make it costlier to hold. Real yields matter most, and central-bank buying can override them. Explained with 2026 data.
7 min read
Buying, selling and owning gold
Karats and units, premiums over spot, bars, coins and ETFs, and how to sell at a fair price.
Gold premium over spot: why you pay more
Dealer markups, making charges and tax explained, with typical ranges by product and what a $4,200 gold price means in the US, Dubai, India and the UK.
11 min read
Gold ETF vs Physical Gold vs Gold Bonds
Three ways to hold gold exposure, and the one question that separates them: what do you actually own if the provider fails.
8 min read
Allocated vs Unallocated Gold: Who Owns It
If the vault operator went under tomorrow, would your gold be yours or would you be in the creditor queue? That is the whole difference.
7 min read
How to sell gold and get a fair price
Melt value by karat at this week's price, what each kind of buyer pays, hallmarks, tax by country and the warning signs at the counter.
10 min read
Gold around the world
Local prices, taxes and buying habits in the biggest gold markets.
Central banks, ETFs and the big buyers
Who holds the world's gold, who is buying now, and what their flows tell you.
More guides
Work it out yourself
What moved the price
The market-moving events marked on the homepage chart, for context while you read.
- ASep 15, 2008Lehman Brothers fails; a global flight to safety begins.
- BSep 6, 2011Nominal record near $1,900 as the euro-zone debt crisis peaks.
- CApr 15, 2013Two-day rout wipes out roughly 13%, the worst drop in 30 years.
- DDec 17, 2015A day after the Fed's first post-crisis hike, gold bottoms near $1,050.
- EMar 16, 2020COVID liquidity squeeze forces a sharp sell-off.
- FAug 6, 2020Gold closes above $2,000 for the first time.
- GMar 8, 2022War in Ukraine drives a spike toward $2,050.
- HMar 1, 2024A fresh breakout begins; central-bank buying accelerates.
- IMar 18, 2025Gold clears $3,000 amid trade tension and rate-cut bets.
- JJan 29, 2026Gold spikes past $5,000 to a record above $5,400 amid a wave of geopolitical shocks, before easing back as a Fed chair nomination and profit-taking cool the rally.