Gold volatility, measured
Gold's typical day: a $78.61 range (1.89% of the price) over the last year; the 14-day average true range is $68.71. The last full trading day (23 Oct 2026) ranged $59.01, wider than 30% of the days of the last year. Measured on minute data since 29 Oct 2021; trading days start at 6 pm New York time.
The last 10 trading days
High minus low of each trading day, US dollars per ounce; green - closed higher than it opened, orange - lower. Typical day: $78.61.
Busiest hours of the day
Median (gold) and 90th percentile (grey) of the high-low range within each hour, weekdays, last 365 days. The peak at 12:00-15:00 UTC is the US data releases (8:30 am New York) and the New York open; it moves one hour later in winter when the US leaves summer time. Spread by hour: gold spread by session.
By weekday
| Weekday | Days | Median range | % of price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 73 | $76.07 | 1.88% |
| Tuesday | 73 | $78.61 | 1.86% |
| Wednesday | 74 | $78.27 | 1.88% |
| Thursday | 72 | $81.43 | 1.91% |
| Friday | 73 | $76.19 | 1.85% |
Trading days starting Sunday evening to Thursday evening are labelled by the next calendar weekday, as the CME does: "Monday" starts Sunday 6 pm New York. Last 365 trading days.
Year by year
| Year | Trading days | Median range | % of price | Busiest 10% of days | Widest day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 45 | $19.12 | 1.07% | above $30.46 | $46.84 |
| 2022 | 258 | $22.98 | 1.27% | above $40.02 | $96.56 |
| 2023 | 257 | $20.77 | 1.07% | above $35.75 | $124.52 |
| 2024 | 259 | $30.32 | 1.25% | above $49.36 | $105.92 |
| 2025 | 258 | $51.30 | 1.48% | above $105.00 | $294.67 |
| 2026 | 210 | $99.95 | 2.21% | above $186.95 | $768.42 |
Dollar ranges grow with the price (gold has more than doubled since 2021), so the percentage is the fair comparison across years. Years are partial at both ends.
The ten widest days
| Trading day | Open | High | Low | Range | % of price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Jan 2026 | 5,400.81 | 5,450.95 | 4,682.53 | $768.42 | 14.23% |
| 2 Feb 2026 | 4,793.52 | 4,884.88 | 4,402.06 | $482.82 | 10.07% |
| 23 Mar 2026 | 4,477.75 | 4,536.23 | 4,098.36 | $437.87 | 9.78% |
| 29 Jan 2026 | 5,448.14 | 5,595.32 | 5,095.18 | $500.15 | 9.18% |
| 19 Mar 2026 | 4,828.06 | 4,866.89 | 4,502.56 | $364.34 | 7.55% |
| 3 Mar 2026 | 5,332.80 | 5,379.73 | 4,995.77 | $383.96 | 7.20% |
| 21 Oct 2025 | 4,364.45 | 4,375.49 | 4,080.82 | $294.67 | 6.75% |
| 3 Feb 2026 | 4,685.10 | 4,993.64 | 4,681.96 | $311.68 | 6.65% |
| 6 Feb 2026 | 4,761.20 | 4,971.36 | 4,655.06 | $316.30 | 6.64% |
| 4 Dec 2023 | 2,074.11 | 2,144.50 | 2,019.99 | $124.52 | 6.00% |
Ranked by percentage of the opening price. See what moved gold on release days: gold after NFP, CPI and the Fed.
How we measure
- Minute bars of gold (bid) from one broker feed we record, from 27 October 2021. A trading day runs from 6:00 pm to 5:00 pm New York time, like CME gold futures; the first and the current day, and days with fewer than 1,000 minutes (holiday sessions), are left out of the statistics.
- Range = highest minus lowest price of the day. True range also counts the gap from the previous close; ATR is the average true range of the last 14 days.
- The hourly profile uses weekdays of the last 365 days and skips hours with less than half an hour of data.
How XAU Meter measures · Position size calculator · Gold market hours
Questions
How much does gold move in a day?
In the last 365 trading days the median daily range (high minus low) was $78.61, or 1.89% of the price; over the last 30 days $68.91. The average true range over 14 days is $68.71.
What is gold's average true range (ATR) today?
The 14-day ATR of gold is $68.71 (1.72% of the price), measured on trading days that start at 6 pm New York time.
What are the most volatile hours for gold?
13:00 UTC has the widest median hourly range, $26.82; 20:00 UTC the narrowest, $10.94 (weekdays, last 365 days). The busiest hours coincide with US data releases and the New York open.
Was the last gold trading day volatile?
23 Oct 2026: range $59.01 (1.47%), wider than 30% of the trading days of the last year.
Page data last updated: · Measured and edited by Adrian Troy · How we measure