How the adjustment works
A real price restates every month in the money of one month. We use August 2026, the latest month with a US consumer price index in our data: each monthly average gold price is multiplied by the index for August 2026 and divided by the index for its own month. The index is the consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), all items, not seasonally adjusted, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For August 2026 it stands at 334.98.
So the January 1960 monthly average of $35.27 becomes $403, and the August 2026 figure, $4,411, stays $4,411 because it is the base month. Real figures are rounded to whole dollars. They are still monthly averages, restated, and none of them is the highest price traded in its month.
January 1980 against February 2025
In dollars of the day the monthly average fell from $675 in January 1980 to $256 in July 1999, 62.1% lower, and passed $675 again in April 2007, at $679, 327 months after January 1980. In August 2026 dollars the fall was deeper and the wait longer: from $2,906 to $492 in April 2001, 83.1% lower, and 541 months until February 2025.
When the price of the day first passed $675, in April 2007, its real value was $1,100, against $2,906 for January 1980. The low points also fall in different months. The price of the day was about the same in April 2001 as in July 1999, $260 against $256, while consumer prices rose in between, so the real low came later, in April 2001.
September 2011 against August 2024
In dollars of the day the monthly average fell from $1,772 in September 2011 to $1,076 in December 2015, 39.3% lower, and passed $1,772 in July 2020, at $1,847, 106 months later. In real terms it fell from $2,616 to $1,524, also in December 2015, 41.7% lower, and passed $2,616 in August 2024, at $2,628, after 155 months. In July 2020 the real figure was $2,388, still below the 2011 level.
| Monthly average | Peak | Low | Fall | Passed again | Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980, dollars of the day | $675, Jan 1980 | $256, Jul 1999 | -62.1% | Apr 2007, $679 | 327 |
| 1980, August 2026 dollars | $2,906, Jan 1980 | $492, Apr 2001 | -83.1% | Feb 2025, $3,039 | 541 |
| 2011, dollars of the day | $1,772, Sep 2011 | $1,076, Dec 2015 | -39.3% | Jul 2020, $1,847 | 106 |
| 2011, August 2026 dollars | $2,616, Sep 2011 | $1,524, Dec 2015 | -41.7% | Aug 2024, $2,628 | 155 |
The 1960s: a fixed price losing value
From January 1960 to December 1967 the monthly average stayed between $35 and $35.27, because the price was held at $35 an ounce (Federal Reserve History). In August 2026 dollars those same months fell from $403 to $346: a price that stays fixed loses real value while consumer prices rise.
The latest real figures
February 2026 has the highest monthly average in both series: $5,020 in dollars of the day and $5,146 in August 2026 dollars. The real series ends with August 2026, at $4,411, because September 2026 has no consumer price index in the file yet.
It also has no figure for October 2025. The Bureau of Labor Statistics could not collect October 2025 survey data during the 2025 lapse in federal appropriations and did not publish most October 2025 indexes (BLS), so the grey line in the chart skips that month.
Inflation and a short-term trade
Inflation matters when comparing 1980 with 2026. It does not change a short-term trade: a gold signal's entry, stop and targets are prices of the day, and our gold signals are recorded in pips from the entry.
The prices without adjustment are in gold price history since 1960 and, year by year, in gold price by year. The change from one month to the next is in is there a best month for gold, and what gold covered in a single day in 2026 is in gold's daily range.
Where the numbers come from
Gold prices are the World Bank's monthly averages from its Commodity Markets "Pink Sheet", in US dollars per troy ounce, January 1960 to September 2026, taken from datasets/gold-prices on GitHub, published under the Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL). The consumer price index is the CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, via datasets/cpi-us, which runs to August 2026. We read both on 24 October 2026. Each real figure is the monthly average times the August 2026 index, divided by that month's index and rounded to the dollar.
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