How Gold Performed in Past Crashes: 2000, 2008, 2020
Three crashes, side by side
| Crisis | Stock market move | Gold’s move |
|---|---|---|
| 2000-2002 dot-com bust | S&P 500 -49%; Nasdaq -~80% (peak to trough) | +~15% (~$270 to ~$310/oz) |
| 2008 financial crisis | S&P 500 -~57% (peak to trough) | -28% initial panic low, then flat for 2008, then +163% trough (Oct. 2008) to peak (Aug. 2011) |
| 2020 COVID crash | Dow/S&P/Nasdaq each -7%+ in a single session, March 2020 | -~13% initial panic low ($1,700 to ~$1,472), then +~25% for the full year |
Figures compiled from multiple independently reported market-history sources (Yahoo Finance, GoldSilver.com, StatCan, The Motley Fool Australia – see Sources below); exact percentages vary slightly by measurement window and data provider.
2000-2002: the dot-com bust
As the dot-com bubble unwound between March 2000 and October 2002, the Nasdaq lost nearly 80% of its value and the S&P 500 fell roughly 49%. Gold didn’t spike immediately – it actually dipped modestly in the very early stage of the bust, struggling to compete with strong bond performance at the time – but over the full period it climbed from around $270 to over $310 an ounce, a gain of roughly 15% while equity indices were posting some of their steepest losses in decades.
2008: flat first, then a multi-year run
Gold’s 2008 performance is a useful reminder that “safe haven” doesn’t mean “immune.” During the most acute phase of the panic in late 2008, gold itself fell roughly 28% as investors liquidated broadly, including safe-haven assets, to raise cash. For the full calendar year, gold ended close to where it started – around $850 to $870 an ounce – while the S&P 500 fell approximately 57% from its peak. Gold’s real outperformance played out afterward: from its October 2008 trough to its August 2011 peak of roughly $1,918, gold rose about 163%, well after the acute crisis had passed.
2020: the same initial dip, a faster recovery
The COVID crash compressed the same pattern into weeks instead of years. In March 2020, as the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq each fell more than 7% in a single session – the worst one-day drop since 2008 – gold also fell, from around $1,700 to a 2020 low near $1,472 an ounce by March 17. That initial decline was milder than the broader market’s, and the recovery was much faster than in 2008: gold reached roughly $2,067 by August 2020, and finished the year up approximately 25%, compared to the S&P 500’s roughly 14.6% gain over the same year.
Red flag to watch for
Be skeptical of any pitch built on “gold always rises when stocks crash.” In two of these three episodes, gold fell alongside stocks during the most acute phase of the panic before its outperformance emerged – sometimes not for years. A more accurate framing is that gold has tended to hold value or outperform over the medium-to-long run following a crisis, not that it moves in the opposite direction of stocks in real time.
Want to see how gold performed during a full decade of high inflation instead of a crash? See our Best Assets to Beat Inflation guide →
Frequently Asked Questions
Does gold always rise when the stock market crashes?
No. In both 2008 and 2020, gold initially fell alongside stocks during the acute panic phase – its outperformance showed up in the months to years afterward, not immediately.
How did gold perform during the 2000-2002 dot-com bust?
Gold rose about 15% (roughly $270 to over $310/oz) while the S&P 500 fell about 49% and the Nasdaq lost nearly 80%.
How did gold perform during the 2008 financial crisis?
Gold fell about 28% in the acute panic, ended 2008 roughly flat, then rose about 163% from its October 2008 low to its August 2011 peak, while the S&P 500 fell about 57% peak to trough.
How did gold perform during the 2020 COVID crash?
Gold fell from about $1,700 to a low near $1,472 in March 2020, then finished the year up about 25%, versus the S&P 500’s roughly 14.6% gain.
- Yahoo Finance, “If You Had Bought Gold During the 2008 Financial Crisis, Here’s How Much You’d Have Today” – finance.yahoo.com/news/had-bought-gold-during-2008-220108926.html – 2008 price levels and 2008-2011 recovery data.
- GoldSilver.com, “How Gold Performs in Recessions: What History Tells Us” – goldsilver.com/industry-news/article/how-gold-performs-in-recessions-what-history-tells-us – dot-com bust and recession-era gold performance data.
- The Motley Fool Australia, “What happened to the gold price during the COVID market downturn and GFC?” – fool.com.au/2025/04/09/what-happened-to-the-gold-price-during-the-covid-market-downturn-and-gfc – COVID crash and GFC comparative gold data.
- Statistics Canada, “Study: Gold and silver prices amid the COVID-19 pandemic, March 2020” – www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200507/dq200507f-eng.htm – independent statistical confirmation of March 2020 gold price behavior.
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