Gold price today, Tuesday, October 20, 2026: Gold prices subdued again by soaring oil prices

Gold (GC=F) December futures opened at $4,162.40 per troy ounce on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, up 0.1% from Monday’s closing price. Gold kept falling in early trading to $4,140 as of 6:55 a.m. ET.

Gold prices opened lower than yesterday and continued to edge down this morning as Brent crude (BZ=F) broke well past the $110 threshold. At publication, Brent crude futures were $111.47 per barrel. Brent prices last hit this level on May 20.

Continued attacks in the Middle East against Saudi Arabian infrastructure and shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz have kept upward pressure on energy costs since the war with Iran began.

Current price of gold

Gold futures opened up 0.1% on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, from Monday’s close. Here’s a look at how the opening gold price has changed versus last week, month, and year:  

For context, the one-year gain for gold was 95.6% on Jan. 29.

24/7 gold price tracking: Don’t forget you can monitor the current price of gold on Yahoo Finance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Want to learn more about the current top-performing companies in the gold industry? Explore a list of the top-performing companies in the gold industry using the Yahoo Finance Screener. You can create your own screeners with over 150 different screening criteria.

Learn more: Who decides what gold is worth? How gold prices are determined.

Risks and considerations for gold investors 

Gold has the same high-level risk as any investment: You could lose money. And, as with other investments, a loss on gold can materialize in different ways. Understanding the potential outcomes is the first step to managing your risk when investing in gold.

According to gold experts, would-be gold investors should understand these four risks:

1. Price

2. Speculation

3. Opportunity cost

4. Fraud 

Today, we’ll focus on the first two: price and speculation. 

Learn more: How to invest in gold in 7 steps

Price risk

There is a price risk for investors who buy gold when the metal is nearing record high prices. “Buying high to hope for short-term higher is a tough strategy,” said Darrell Fletcher, managing director, commodities at Bannockburn Capital Markets.

Despite the high prices, there are positive dynamics in play for the precious metal. Fletcher pointed out that gold is recovering from decades of low prices, and it’s an increasingly popular diversification asset for central banks and individual investors. 

The right expectations, a long timeline, and an appropriate allocation can limit your pricing risk. “Gold should not be seen as a driver of supercharged returns — it’s there to act primarily as a stabilizer in a diversified portfolio,” explained Alex Tsepaev, chief strategy officer of B2PRIME Group.

If you are interested in learning more about gold’s historical value, Yahoo Finance has been tracking the historical price of gold since 2000. 

Speculation risk

Thomas Winmill, portfolio manager at Midas Funds, encourages investors to view positions in gold bullion, coins, and ETFs as speculative. Gold is a commodity, and “commodity prices are dependent on macroeconomic, political, industrial, and financial factors that are unpredictable, and in some cases, unknowable.” 

Despite its recent performance, gold is an unpredictable asset. Keeping that in mind when making trading decisions could protect you from over-exposure and unrealistic expectations. 

Learn more: Thinking of buying gold? Here’s what investors should watch for.

Price of gold chart

Whether you’re tracking the price of gold since last month or last year, the price of gold chart below shows the precious metal’s change in value.