20 Year Gold Chart
The information on this page is the complete price history of gold for the past 20 years. We have the closing price for every year of trading during the period since 2006.
Gold investors have been on quite the ride in the past 20 years. An ounce of gold has increased in value by a factor of almost 7, and that doesn’t even take the effects of unprecedented 2025 into account.
However, even within the general ascension of gold’s price over the years, it hasn’t always been a straight climb. There have been relatively static years, where the price ended up almost in the same position it began. There have even been years where gold has ended up in a lower position than where it began the year – most recently, this phenomenon occurred in 2021.
So, while you should take heart in the positive long-term prospect of owning gold, you should use this chart as a tool to understand the volatility of the price of gold, and how to get a sense of where the market may go in the future.
| Year | Year Open | Year High | Year Low | Year Close | Annual % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $2,063.73 | $2,693.76 | $2,025.82 | $2,624.49 | 27.17% |
| 2023 | $1,829.31 | $2,021.42 | $1,866.73 | $2,062.90 | 12.77% |
| 2022 | $1,804.27 | $1,973.82 | $1,652.85 | $1,823.26 | 1.05% |
| 2021 | $1,941.85 | $1,837.83 | $1,732.44 | $1,829.05 | -5.81% |
| 2020 | $1,518.41 | $1,972.89 | $1,571.10 | $1,898.60 | 25.04% |
| 2019 | $1,281.30 | $1,550.30 | $1,286.80 | $1,517.24 | 18.41% |
| 2018 | $1,306.84 | $1,322.80 | $1,187.20 | $1,282.57 | -1.86% |
| 2017 | $1,150.27 | $1,312.00 | $1,202.40 | $1,302.94 | 13.27% |
| 2016 | $1,078.47 | $1,360.10 | $1,178.20 | $1,152.07 | 6.82% |
| 2015 | $1,188.68 | $1,294.20 | $1,077.50 | $1,061.35 | -10.71% |
| 2014 | $1,205.77 | $1,323.80 | $1,208.50 | $1,184.31 | -1.78% |
| 2013 | $1,675.29 | $1,660.80 | $1,202.30 | $1,205.67 | -28.03% |
| 2012 | $1,603.88 | $1,732.30 | $1,586.60 | $1,675.30 | 4.45% |
| 2011 | $1,414.10 | $1,794.20 | $1,384.70 | $1,564.81 | 10.66% |
| 2010 | $1,116.10 | $1,421.10 | $1,084.50 | $1,420.55 | 27.28% |
| 2009 | $876.34 | $1,125.70 | $879.30 | $1,096.60 | 25.13% |
| 2008 | $856.34 | $1,003.00 | $732.45 | $879.05 | 2.65% |
| 2007 | $639.80 | $824.00 | $635.66 | $833.15 | 30.22% |
| 2006 | $530.60 | $645.71 | $527.86 | $635.70 | 19.81% |
| 2005 | $428.50 | $494.93 | $412.53 | $516.50 | 20.54% |
How to Use a 20-Year Chart
- Year Open: The opening spot price for gold from January 1 or the first business day of the year.
- Year High: The highest closing price on any given day throughout the year. This amount is not necessarily the highest price overall, as intraday trading may push the price before it recedes due to a quick selloff.
- Year Low: The lowest closing price on any given day. The price may have dipped beneath this amount during open trading, but no day ever finished with a lower spot price.
- Year Close: The closing spot price for gold from December 31 or the last business day of the year.
- Annual Percentage Change: The difference between the Open and the Close in terms of the percentage of change. Open prices higher than the Close lead to negative percentages, while Open prices lower than the Close reveal positive gains over the course of the year.
More: Today’s Gold Price – 5 Year Gold Chart – 10 Year Gold Chart – 30 Year Gold Chart
Key Dates
There are several key dates in gold’s performance over the past 20 years. These dates often happened in concert with major events, either in the US or in the world at large.
- May 23, 2006 – $664.64: The first bull market of the 21st century begins due to increasing fears about the collapsing housing market and coincident interest rate increases.
- March 12, 2008 – $983.45: Less than two years later, gold prices have risen 48% as the complete collapse of the housing market and the subprime mortgage industry drives panic into consumers about the economy.
- August 24, 2011 – $1,755.00: At the depths of the Great Recession, gold sets an all-time high after almost doubling in price over the past three years.
- December 5, 2019 – $1,476.90: After oscillating between $1,077/oz and $1,755/oz for the rest of the 2010s decade, the closing price settles on its final price below $1500.
- July 30, 2020 – $1,957.08: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupts the entire world economy and sends the price of gold to a record high, a 32.5% increase in value in just seven months.
- October 21, 2022 – $1,656.43: The lowest price for gold in the 2020s and the trough between two meteoric rises in the price of gold.
- March 13, 2025 – $2,982.69: A new all-time high due to concerns about tariffs and a potential trade war. The price is 80% higher than the nadir from October 2022, and a person who bought gold in May 2006 would have observed a 348% (or nearly 3.5 times) increase in the value of their investment.
Other tools: Gold-to-Silver Ratio – Fear and Greed Index
Historical Context of the Last 20 years
- Long-term perspective: It’s helpful to know what pathway gold took to arrive at its current price. The 3.5x rise in gold since 2006 far outstrips the effect inflation has had on the dollar since then.
- Performance evaluation: Though the past 20 years of gold prices have trended upward, there have been times of decline. Understanding that your gold investment might have decreased in value if you bought, say, in September 2012 or in March 2022, is critical to anticipate as part of the journey.
- Correlation with economic factors: A 20-year view of the price of gold is a window into economic factors that may be at play at one time or another. Rising inflation correlates with higher gold prices, as does the health of the overall economy – it’s no accident that the Great Recession, COVID-19, and the dramatic rise in inflation in 2022 – 2024 has corresponded with record high gold prices.
- Monetary policy impact: The gold price also nods at the impact of the government’s monetary policy. An increase in interest rates, such as the trend in 2006, begets higher gold prices. Inflation caused by increases to the money supply, as happened in 2022 – 2023, sends gold through the roof.
- Global economic health: The uncertainty of Donald Trump’s second term, particularly with respect to his use of tariffs and growing fears about a trade war with various countries, are propelling gold to uncharted heights. In 2025 alone, the first three months have seen gold set more than a dozen all-time records.
