Gold just did something that it hasn't done since 1980

Gold has set 37 record closes this year, marking its best annual performance since 1979 and lapping U.S. equity benchmarks like the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, which have set 28 and 19 respectively. But in recent weeks, the precious metal notched two new impressive records, including one not bested since 1980.

Starting with the 45-year-old record: gold finally broke through its inflation-adjusted record from Jan. 1980. 

First reported by Bloomberg, who factored in "decades of consumer price increases" for the analysis, the data shows the safe haven's value going parabolic in recent months, coinciding with greater geopolitical uncertainty and fresh worries about the U.S. Dollar.

Since setting this record, gold has continued to soldier upward for a series of new record closes. On Tuesday, Continuous Gold Contracts rose 0.58% to 3,796.90, finishing out the day after an intraday record. 

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Separately, etf.com reported that gold set a different kind of record on Wall Street. This time, it has to do with investors' excitement and appetite for the safe haven.

On Friday, the largest U.S-listed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Shares GLD, pulled in $2.2 billion in inflows. That was the "largest single-day inflow in the fund's 21-year history" per etf.com's Sumit Roy, who tabulated data from Bloomberg.

The ETF's two other best inflow days also happened earlier in 2025. In total, the fund has hauled in more than $12.9 billion in net inflows, which puts it on track to surpass its 2020 records.

The strong inflows have helped turn around the ETF's fund flows, according to Macro Ops' Brandon Beylo, who shared a chart of the 10-year trend on X (f/k/a Twitter.)

Other gold ETFs have also appreciated a bump of interest, including the iShares Gold Trust  (IAU)  and SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust  (GLDM) , the second- and third-largest gold ETFs by assets under management (AUM). Taken together, global gold ETFs are inching closer to a $500 billion AUM milestone.

Gold, the most famous safe haven, is one way that investors have hedged their portfolio against uncertainty and inflation. Institutional investors and hedge funds have bet heavily on the precious metal, which has already risen dramatically this year.

Their recent strength has pushed the Relative Strength Index (RSI) on gold ETFs into "overbought" territory. Still, analysts hold that gold will continue to rally in the face of global uncertainty and lower interest rates.

Year-to-date, the Gold Continuous Contract was up 43.9% on Tuesday evening, sitting at $3,798, per data from MarketWatch.