Gold prices have moved widely over the past 50 years, with a peak of $850 per ounce in January 1980 and a low near $252 in 1999, and have risen to more than $3,000 per ounce in early 2025. The metal was fixed at $35 per ounce under the Bretton Woods system until August 1971, when the Nixon administration ended dollar convertibility to gold, allowing market pricing. Inflation and the 1973 Arab oil embargo pushed prices toward $195 by the end of 1974, and the peak of $850 in 1980 followed the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and high inflation during the Carter administration. From 1980 to the early 1990s, the Federal Reserve raised real interest rates, which, together with a strengthening dollar, caused gold to fall to a range of $300‑$500. Continued central bank sales, including the United Kingdom’s auction of 415 tonnes between 1999 and 2002, drove prices down to about $252 in 1999. The 2000s saw gold climb from $270 in 2001 to $800 in 2007, before falling during the 2008 financial crisis as institutions sold assets. Monetary easing and near‑zero rates later pushed prices back up, reaching $1,920 by September 2011. In the 2010s, prices dropped to roughly $1,050 in 2015 before recovering above $1,500 by mid‑2019 as central banks, especially in emerging markets, added more than 1,000 tonnes of gold purchases annually for the first time in over 55 years. The 2020s have produced new highs, with gold surpassing $2,000 in August 2020, $2,500 in 2024, and $3,000 in early 2025, driven by geopolitical tensions, continued central bank buying, and expectations of lower real interest rates. Today, as of mid‑2026, gold remains at historically high levels, while the share of gold in global foreign exchange reserves has been gradually increasing.