Figure of the month: 60,79

From its introduction after World War II until the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1973, the gold price was fixed at 35 US$ per ounce to ensure the stability of the global monetary system, which would have corresponded to a gold price of 1.12 US$ per gram. In 1975, the gold price, now floating freely on the markets, was already at 5.96 US$. The price per gram of gold, although highly volatile and in some years very weak, has increased enormously over the 70 years since the end of the gold price peg.

In March 2022, gold reached its all-time record level

The highest closing price of Xetra-Gold, and thus the highest-ever price in euro per gram of gold, was reached on 22 March 2022 at €60.79. Today, at €57.02, the price of gold is some way off, but nevertheless record-breaking compared to its levels since 21 January 1980. On that day, the precious metal had reached its all-time high to date of €18.93 (calculated based on the German currency Deutsche Mark at the fixed euro exchange rate of 1.95), which many believed unsurpassable. The doubters were proven right for quite a long time – until 6 November 2008.

Gold price has risen almost continuously since financial crisis

The record set in 1980 was only broken at the beginning of the global financial crisis on 6 November 2008 with a new, very close high of €18.94. In October 2012, as the euro crisis developed in the wake of the financial crisis, the euro-gold price reached a previously unimaginable €44.34. With the global spread of the coronavirus, it rose to €49.43 in April 2020 and continued to rise steadily thereafter. The Russian invasion of Ukraine then pushed the price of the precious metal to a record €60.79, which was last almost reached again in May 2023 at €59.91. Since the introduction of euro cash in 2002, the gold price has risen from 10.27 to its present 57.02 € per gram.