Gold to Rise to $5,400/oz by End-2026 as Central Banks and Investors Boost Demand
Goldman Sachs raised its year-end 2026 gold forecast to $5,400/oz, citing sustained central bank purchases (approximately 60 tonnes/month) and increased private investor exposure as the Fed moves toward rate cuts. The bank expects gold ETF holdings to expand and assumes private diversified investors will largely hold positions through 2026, tightening available physical supply. A separate, higher estimate from ICBC Standard Bank projects $7,150/oz. Goldman’s note frames these views as market information, not investment advice. For crypto traders: rising gold demand and a stronger safe-haven price trajectory may increase cross-asset risk-off flows, strengthen correlations between gold and stable-value or BTC safe-haven narratives, and affect portfolio allocation between crypto risk assets and precious metals.
Neutral
The news primarily concerns the gold market: higher projected gold prices driven by central bank purchases and investor demand are bullish for gold but do not directly alter fundamentals of cryptocurrencies. For crypto traders, the impact is mixed—short-term: potential risk-off flows into gold could depress risk-on crypto names (bearish for most altcoins and possibly BTC if broad risk sentiment weakens). Conversely, an intensifying safe-haven narrative for gold could boost demand for stores of value, potentially supporting Bitcoin’s narrative as ’digital gold’ (mildly bullish for BTC). Longer-term: sustained central bank buying that tightens physical market supply reinforces the perception of tangible-asset scarcity, which may encourage some reallocation from volatile crypto into gold or stable-value instruments, tempering crypto upside. Overall, the direct price signal for cryptocurrencies is neutral-to-mixed; gold’s strengthened outlook is bullish for gold but translates into both downside risk for crypto risk assets during risk-off moves and potential narrative support for BTC as an inflation/hedge asset.