Gold from 2016 to 2026: ten years of prices in numbers
In October 2016 an ounce of gold cost about $1,320. In January 2026 it touched $5,598. This is the decade the game draws its charts from, in one chart and a few tables.
The decade at a glance
Gold price, weekly close
XAU/USD, October 2016 – August 2026
The lowest price in the dataset is $1,122.86 in December 2016. The highest is $5,598.26 on the trading day of January 29, 2026, almost five times higher. Most of that climb came late. Gold closed 2023 at $2,062.73, crossed $3,000 in March 2025 and $4,000 in October 2025, and closed 2025 at $4,318.38.
Year by year
| Year | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | Avg. day range | as % of price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 (from Oct 3) | $1,318.57 | $1,337.50 | $1,122.86 | $1,151.44 | −12.7% | $16.7 | 1.36% |
| 2017 | $1,150.76 | $1,357.61 | $1,146.18 | $1,302.86 | +13.2% | $12.5 | 1.00% |
| 2018 | $1,303.18 | $1,366.12 | $1,160.27 | $1,282.55 | −1.6% | $12.3 | 0.97% |
| 2019 | $1,282.55 | $1,557.11 | $1,266.32 | $1,517.46 | +18.3% | $15.5 | 1.10% |
| 2020 | $1,519.18 | $2,075.36 | $1,451.32 | $1,898.42 | +25.1% | $30.7 | 1.74% |
| 2021 | $1,905.18 | $1,959.43 | $1,673.10 | $1,829.50 | −3.6% | $23.9 | 1.33% |
| 2022 | $1,828.60 | $2,070.36 | $1,614.71 | $1,823.02 | −0.4% | $25.7 | 1.42% |
| 2023 | $1,826.84 | $2,145.14 | $1,804.59 | $2,062.73 | +13.1% | $23.4 | 1.20% |
| 2024 | $2,062.60 | $2,790.00 | $1,984.09 | $2,624.16 | +27.2% | $33.1 | 1.38% |
| 2025 | $2,625.10 | $4,549.72 | $2,614.36 | $4,318.38 | +64.6% | $60.8 | 1.73% |
| 2026 (to Sep 1) | $4,325.80 | $5,598.26 | $3,942.06 | $4,328.14 | +0.2% | $128.5 | 2.78% |
| Change is close to close against the previous year (2016 and 2026 are partial years). Day range = average high minus low of each trading day. | |||||||
- 2017–2019 were calm. A typical day moved $12–16, about 1% of the price.
- 2020 brought the pandemic. Gold rose 25.1% and set a record of $2,075.36 in August, and the average daily range jumped to 1.74%.
- 2021–2022 went mostly sideways. A spike to $2,070 in March 2022 faded to a low of $1,614.71 in September as interest rates rose.
- 2023 gained 13.1% and set a new record in December.
- 2024 gained 27.2%, with a run of record highs up to $2,790.
- 2025 was the strongest year in the set at +64.6%. The average daily range in dollars nearly doubled from 2024, to $60.80.
- 2026, through September 1, started with a record of $5,598.26, then saw the largest one-day fall in the data. The low of the period, $3,942.06, came at the end of June. By September 1 gold was back near where the year began, at $4,328.14. The average daily range was $128.50, or 2.78%, the widest of any year.
The ten biggest days
| Trading day | Change | Close | Day range | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-30 | −9.00% | $4,895.64 | 14.28% | Kevin Warsh named as the next Fed chair pick |
| 2026-02-03 | +6.16% | $4,947.12 | 7.03% | |
| 2020-08-11 | −5.70% | $1,911.80 | 6.34% | Sharp drop days after the 2020 record high |
| 2025-10-21 | −5.31% | $4,124.35 | 6.82% | Sell-off one day after a record high |
| 2020-03-24 | +5.00% | $1,630.97 | 5.21% | Rebound after the Fed's unlimited QE pledge |
| 2026-02-02 | −4.81% | $4,660.20 | 10.01% | |
| 2026-01-28 | +4.54% | $5,415.14 | 5.06% | |
| 2020-11-09 | −4.52% | $1,862.95 | 5.88% | First COVID-19 vaccine results |
| 2026-03-03 | −4.45% | $5,084.86 | 7.22% | |
| 2025-12-29 | −4.43% | $4,331.48 | 5.48% | |
| Close-to-close change between trading days that end at 17:00 New York time. | ||||
Seven of the ten largest daily moves since 2016 happened between October 2025 and August 2026. On January 30, 2026, gold closed 9.0% lower than the day before, with a 14.3% gap between the day's high and low. Big moves also tend to come in clusters. Four of the ten fell within one week, from January 28 to February 3, 2026, and three fell in 2020.
What this means for practice
Dollar distances have changed scale. In 2017 a typical day moved about $12.50. Over the last 12 months it moved about $112. A $10 swing used to be a big day and is now ordinary noise inside an hour. That is why the game sets its TP/SL levels with ATR, a measure of recent movement, instead of fixed dollar amounts.
Shapes repeat even when prices don't. With dates hidden, a 2018 chart and a 2026 chart can look alike: trends, pullbacks and ranges at a different price level. Hiding prices before you answer (in Settings) pushes you to read structure instead of anchoring on levels.
Volatile periods are part of the test. Questions are drawn from the whole decade, so you will meet quiet 2017 ranges and wild 2026 swings. If one timeframe feels too noisy, try the 4-hour chart.