Gold Smashes $4,500, Notching Its Best Run Since the ’70s

Gold just smashed through $4,500 an ounce, capping a year for the history books and cementing precious metals as the trade of 2025. Escalating tensions in Venezuela, fresh bets on more US rate cuts, and a steady drumbeat of geopolitical risk have turbocharged gold’s safe-haven appeal. The metal is up more than 70% this year, its best run since 1979, while silver has gone fully parabolic, surging about 150% as investors pile into hard assets amid fears of currency debasement and ballooning debt.

This isn’t just hot money. Central banks have been buying aggressively, ETF inflows have been relentless, and physical demand is proving stubbornly strong. Silver and platinum are tagging record highs of their own, with supply tightness adding fuel to already raging rallies. After brushing off an October pullback, gold looks primed to carry momentum into 2026. Wall Street is taking note, with forecasts creeping toward $4,900 and beyond in a world jittery about growth, politics and policy.