WHY GOLD MOVED Gold …

Gold price history

Gold price in 1986

Gold averaged $368 an ounce in 1986. That was +15.6% on 1985.

1986 average$368
Highest month$424Oct
Lowest month$339Feb

Gold today: …

Month by month in 1986

MonthAverage price
January$347
February$339
March$346
April$340
May$342
June$343
July$348
August$377
September$418
October$424
November$398
December$391

1986 on the long-run chart

$50$100$250$500$1,000$2,000$4,000197019801990200020102020

The large dot is 1986. Yearly averages, log scale.

Yearly and monthly figures are averages of daily prices, in US dollars per troy ounce. Source: World Bank Commodity Markets (Pink Sheet), CC BY 4.0, via the open gold-prices dataset. Daily highs and lows were higher and lower than the monthly averages. Latest month in the data: September 2026.

Questions people ask

What was the price of gold in 1986?

Gold averaged about $368 an ounce in 1986. The highest month was October ($424) and the lowest was February ($339).

How much is gold now compared with 1986?

See the live figure at the top of this page. It compares today's price with the 1986 average of $368. Past prices don't tell you what gold will do next.

Know why gold moved, within minutes

Every jobs report, inflation number and Fed decision, explained in plain English as it lands. Free.