One of the biggest pieces of news on global investing markets that you might have missed over the long weekend is the latest record high for gold. Investors have been pushing the precious metal to countless new record highs over the past few months. But the weekend's latest all-time high, fuelled by frenzied gold buying, is a huge milestone.
That's because gold, for the first time in recorded history, hit US$5,000 per ounce over the weekend. That's $7,236 in our local dollar.
At the time of writing, gold has pushed even higher, crossing US$5,100 in the past 24 hours.
This extraordinary new high means that gold is now up a whopping 82% or so over the past 12 months alone. Yep, this time last year, the yellow metal was going for just US$2,803 an ounce. Perhaps even more startling has been gold's climb over just the past few weeks. Since New Year's Eve, the precious metal has climbed from US$4,293 an ounce, giving it a 2026 year-to-date gain of close to 19%. And we haven't even hit February yet.
Considering all of this, many investors might be wondering whether it is too late to hop onto this bandwagon by buying gold.
Is it too late to buy gold in 2026?
Well, that's the US$5,000 question. To be clear, no one knows. Gold is a fickle commodity that is subject to the same influences of fear and greed that make the stock market so volatile. For all I know, gold could end 2026 at US$3,000 an ounce or at US$8,000.
Saying that, we can still partake in some educated guesswork.
To start, let's look at what is driving gold higher. Gold is a rather unique asset in that it commands faith as a safe-haven asset. Due to its finite supply, its historical use as a currency, and its ability to resist corrosion and degradation, humans have been storing their wealth using gold bullion for thousands of years.
Investors tend to appreciate this safe-haven status during times of heightened geopolitical or economic uncertainty. There doesn't happen to be any shortage of either at this early stage of 2026. There are several geopolitical hotspots keeping world leaders up at night right now. These range from the Taiwan Straight and Greenland to Gaza and the battlefields of Ukraine.
Further, there are sharp questions about the future of the United States as the centre of the global economy. From imposing arbitrary tariffs to questioning the US' role in NATO, the Trump Administration's economic and foreign policies have certainly ruffled a few feathers. There are now real questions being asked about the US dollar's safe haven status and its role as the world's reserve currency. This could have huge implications for the ever-increasing US national debt if these doubts fester.
Central banks around the world are already piling out of US Treasury bonds and buying into gold. Most notably, China.
Putting all of this together, we have the perfect recipe for higher gold prices.
Foolish Takeaway
All of the factors that have arguably pushed gold to its latest record high remain in place in early 2026, and indeed seem to be accelerating. As such, I would be surprised if gold didn't continue to mint fresh record highs over the rest of 2026. I could be wrong, of course. But until we see these underlying global tensions ease up considerably, it seems prudent to expect gold demand to exceed supply.
