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Gold’s early-1983 run to about $512 proved to be a bear-market trap: disinflation took hold and the price unwound to $382 by year-end.
Monthly path for 1983, anchored to the real open ($ 457.00), the high in February, the low in November, and the close ($ 382.00). The dashed line marks the yearly average; intra-year movement between anchor points is illustrative.
Year-over-year, gold fell -16.41% versus its 1982 close of $ 457.00.
For a few weeks in February 1983, gold bulls believed the great bull market had resumed: the price touched about $512, capping the rally that had begun from mid-1982’s debt-crisis lows. It was an illusion. That same spring OPEC cut oil prices for the first time ever, hard evidence that the inflation machine of the 1970s had been thrown into reverse.
With US inflation crumbling toward 3% and the Volcker Fed showing no mercy, the case for holding metal that pays nothing dissolved month by month. Gold spent the rest of 1983 in retreat, sliding to about $374 by November and closing near $382 — down 16% for the year. The February peak would stand untouched for twenty-three years, a monument to how completely the disinflation era changed the rules.
Gold spiked to roughly $512 in February — a level it would not see again until 2006.
US inflation collapsed to around 3%, down from over 13% just three years earlier.
A booming recovery and strong dollar pulled investment demand away from hard assets.
OPEC cut official oil prices for the first time in its history, deflating commodity markets broadly.
Gold averaged about $424 per ounce in 1983, peaking near $512 in February and falling to roughly $374 by November before closing around $382.
The February spike was the last gasp of the 1982 crisis rally. Collapsing inflation, OPEC’s first-ever oil price cut, and a strong dollar then reasserted the disinflation trend, and the price fell for the rest of the year.
Gold's 1983 high was about $ 512.00 per troy ounce, reached in February.
The average gold price in 1983 was roughly $ 424.00 per troy ounce — it opened near $ 457.00 and closed around $ 382.00.
Gold fell about 16.4% over 1983, between a low of $ 374.00 and a high of $ 512.00.
Historical figures are approximate annual values shown for educational analysis and may differ from other sources. This is not financial advice — see our disclaimer.