Is gold in the process of a bubble formation? New evidence from the ex-post global financial crisis period

In the prices of financial assets, super-exponential growth is not sustainable and will eventually result in what physicists term a “finite-time singularity,” suggesting an abrupt transition into a new regime—which often manifests itself in a crash. The financial literature on gold has documented that the dynamics constituting the supply-and-demand relationship in the market for gold has undergone substantial changes since the early 2000s. In particular, the global financial crisis might have had an unprecedented effect on the demand for gold as a financial asset. This is the first paper exploring whether gold is in the process of a bubble formation that started in the ex-post financial crisis period. Calibrating the log-periodic power law (LPPLS) model to the log-prices of gold futures using daily data covering the period December 2015—June 2024, this study finds strong evidence for a bubble formation predicted to last until 2029. Various robustness checks provide further evidence that the LPPLS model is a remarkable tool for predicting bubble formations in the market for gold. • This study uses log-periodic power law singularity (LPPLS) models to explore the log-prices of gold futures. • It is shown that gold futures reach a singularity condition in October 2029. • The results cast doubt on the reliability of gold to serve as a safe haven. • A robustness check strongly supports this evidence.