Gold prices have shattered records this week, briefly topping $4,000 an ounce for the first time ever. This caps off a near-50% surge in 2025 which has turned the oldest “safe haven” in finance into one of the world’s hottest and apparently most crowded trades. How this rise compares to previous years The surge is a markedly extreme move for an asset that typically posts single-digit annual gains. The last time gold climbed this fast was more than four decades ago , during the inflationary late 1970s, w ...