Spot gold is currently trading at $5,090.9 an ounce after earlier climbing above $5,100. The precious metal has already gained nearly 18% since the start of the year.

The US gold futures contract for February delivery is up 2.1% at $5,091.1.

A traditional safe haven in times of uncertainty, the yellow metal - whose price has risen in a near-exponential fashion since late 2022 - is benefiting not only from geopolitical worries, but also from a weaker dollar amid the prospect of further Federal Reserve rate cuts and still-strong demand from central banks, now joined by increased hunger amongst private investors.

The recent storm warning over relations between Washington and European capitals that erupted over the Greenland issue also appears to have reinforced its safe-haven appeal.

"Breaking $5,000 isn't just a round number," said Alexis Monceaux, an expert at Godot & Fils, a French firm founded in 1933 and regarded as a benchmark in precious metals.

"It's a symptom of a widespread loss of confidence in the stability of the international system," the specialist said.

"Gold isn't rising just because Trump is worrying people: it's rising because geopolitical and monetary fundamentals have deteriorated deeply. This new record may well be only a step along the way," he added.

In the face of Donald Trump's erratic foreign policy, Alexis Monceaux says gold is simply becoming once again what it has always been in a crisis: "insurance against chaos".

Yet 2025 had already been one for the history books, with spot gold setting record after record to clear the $3,000 threshold in March, then $4,000 in October. Over the year as a whole, it has surged by almost 73%.

That rally left investors with a sense of "easy money," outperforming all other asset classes, starting with Bitcoin, which fell 8% last year after two strong years in 2023 and 2024.

Optimists continue to count on a weak dollar - notably driven by growing distrust towards US debt - to keep this favorable momentum going.

In a note published last week, Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for gold prices at the end of 2026, with the US investment bank now expecting it to reach $5,400 an ounce by then, rather than $4,900 previously.

The New York firm nonetheless acknowledges that uncertainty surrounding the trajectory of global monetary policy could pose downside risk in the months ahead.

The outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting, due on Wednesday evening, will therefore be watched even more closely by market participants.

"Reassuring guidance could push gold even higher, while more cautious comments risk slowing its rally," warned Frank Walbaum, a markets analyst at Naga.

Could the spectacular surge in gold prices, now stretching for more than three years, eventually come to an end?

"Without a doubt, we've risen very sharply in a very short period of time, which means a consolidation phase wouldn't hurt," said Michael Brown of Pepperstone. "But in my view, the logical medium-term trend continues to favour an upward path," he concluded.