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Gold

Commodity
Market proxy GLD$406.751D -0.85%

Gold drawdown: 18.0% below the all-time high

Gold is 18.0% below its all-time high, set Jan 29, 2026 (as of market close, Sep 4, 2026). The chart shows every day as a percentage of the highest level reached up to that point: 100% means a fresh record, everything below is a drawdown.

Below all-time high
−18.0%
82.0% of ATH
All-time high
$495.9
Jan 29, 2026
Time below the high
7 mo
since Jan 29, 2026
Worst-ever drawdown
−45.6%
Dec 17, 2015
Longest underwater
8.9 yrs
between all-time highs
Today's level first reached
Dec 22, 2025
8 mo ago
Last time this deep
Nov 9, 2022
in a previous episode

% of all-time high since 2004#

The classic underwater chart (drawdown curve), drawn as % of the all-time high — 100% is a fresh record, everything below it is time spent underwater. Basis and range are in the URL, so a particular view is a link.

Basis
Range
All-time high = 100%60%70%80%90%
GLD close · log50.00100200
20052010201520202025

The deepest drawdowns on record#

Every decline of 15% or more from an all-time high (price basis), deepest first.

PeakTroughDepthPeak → troughRecovered byUnderwater
Aug 22, 2011Dec 17, 2015−45.6%4.3 yrsJul 29, 20208.9 yrs
Mar 17, 2008Nov 12, 2008−29.4%8 moSep 16, 200918 mo
Jan 29, 2026Jul 16, 2026−26.4%6 monot yet7 mo+
Aug 6, 2020Sep 26, 2022−22.0%2.1 yrsMar 4, 20243.6 yrs
May 12, 2006Jun 14, 2006−21.8%33 daysSep 18, 200716 mo

Price basis (no dividends) — the convention crash histories use. With dividends reinvested, recoveries arrive years earlier; switch the basis on the chart above to see it.

Drawdown vs what came next#

One dot per month since 2004: how far Gold stood below its all-time high, and the total return over the following 1, 5 and 10 years.

1950–19992000–today

Read this with survivorship bias in mind: a single asset's history is one surviving sample, so past recoveries here say little about the odds ahead. Monthly windows also overlap heavily (they are not independent samples). Not investment advice.

FAQ#

How far is Gold from its all-time high?
Gold is currently 18.0% below its all-time high, set Jan 29, 2026 (as of market close, Sep 4, 2026). Prices only, the convention headlines use; with dividends reinvested the gap is usually smaller.
What was the biggest Gold drawdown ever?
The deepest decline on record in our data (since 2004) took Gold 45.6% below its prior high, bottoming Dec 17, 2015. The table on this page lists every major episode with its peak, trough and recovery date.

Methodology & related#

Daily data since 2004 from GLD, Gold's tracking fund; no free deep history exists for Gold — for a 150-year drawdown record see the S&P 500 drawdown page. The price basis excludes dividends; the total-return basis reinvests them; the real basis additionally deflates by CPI. See also returns by year. Past performance does not predict future returns; not investment advice.

More on Gold

Drawdown for: S&P 500 · S&P 500 Equal Weight · US Stock Market · Nasdaq-100Tracked by GLD, IAU