Gold Investing Leaps on Dramatic Price Rise

Gold investing beats profit-taking by most in 14 months...

GOLD INVESTING demand leapt in August, outrunning investor selling by the most since June 2025 even as the precious metal made its 3rd strongest monthly price rise of the 21st century, writes Adrian Ash at world-leading marketplace BullionVault.

Gold priced in US Dollars jumped 13.3% last month (+12.2% in UK Pounds, +11.9% in Euros), more than reversing summer 2026's previous drop to finish at $4562 per troy ounce, still $1000 below late-January's all-time peak.

In response, BullionVault users as a group bought 128 kilograms more gold than they sold, spending over $18 million net (£13m, €15m) to grow their total holdings 0.3% by weight to the most in 9 months above 43.6 tonnes worth $6.4 billion (£4.7bn, €5.5bn).

So rather than taking profit on gold's steep rebound, private investors bought into the precious metal's late-summer rally. And with long-term bond yields hitting new multi-decade highs, this strong demand for gold signals deep worries over the size of government debt and the threat of debasement.

The number of private investors starting or adding to their vaulted gold holdings using BullionVault last month rose 1.7% from July's 11-month low, while the number of sellers jumped 31.7% from what had also been the fewest since August last year.

Together, that trimmed 0.8 points off the Gold Investor Index, taking this unique measure of sentiment − which would read 50.0 if the number of net buyers was matched by the number of net sellers − down to 54.1.

The Gold Investor Index set a series low of 47.5 in March 2024 and it hit a post-pandemic high of 60.7 this March. Last month's figure was 0.2 points above last August, and it marked the strongest August since 2023 (54.2).

Global gold investor sentiment remains firmly positive, in short, with this summer's buyers raising the size of their allocation as the price's dramatic surge continues to trade below the New Year's all-time gold price peak.

The Silver Investor Index also retreated in August, down 2.5 points to the lowest in 14 months at 51.2 as the more industrially-useful precious metal jumped 21.7% in Dollar terms (+20.3% in GBP, +20.2% in EUR) to finish the month at $70.26 per troy ounce.

Silver's 6th sharpest monthly price rise since the year 2000 (the 7th in GBP and the 8th in EUR), that saw BullionVault users buy 1.8 tonnes more silver than they sold as a group, swelling total client holdings 0.2% by weight to the most in 2026 so far at 1,135 tonnes worth $2.5bn (£1.8bn, €2.2bn).

The number of new account openings meanwhile rose by 1/5th (+22.8%) from July's 18-month low, led by a rebound in the major Eurozone economies. Coming just 4.8% below the same month last year, that marked the 5th strongest August for new precious metals investors in BullionVault's 21 years of operation.

Like the surge in net gold demand, that suggests investor appetite for precious metals remains undimmed by the volatility and price falls since the Iran War began. Anyone looking for the floor in gold and silver prices maybe missed it this summer back at $4000 and $55 respectively.