Record number of investors buy gold on Iran war price crash
Gold’s sharpest price drop in 13 years saw a record number of people buy the precious metal on world-leading marketplace BullionVault last month as the US and Israel went to war with Iran.
After setting new all-time highs and rising for 9 months in a row − gold’s longest-ever run of unbroken gains − the price of gold sank by 10.5% in UK Pounds as the oil price shock drove profit-taking by central banks, institutional investors, and traders needing to cover losses in stocks and bonds.
Jumping on the price drop, the number of gold buyers on BullionVault − the West London fintech now used by 130,000 private investors worldwide and finding 9-in-10 of its clients in the UK, Europe and North America − rose by almost one-fifth from February’s count (+18.2%), topping the previous all-time high set this New Year and outnumbering sellers (who rose 0.4%) nearly 3-to-1.
“Private investors have seized on gold’s price drop,” says BullionVault director of research Adrian Ash. “Gold’s sudden retreat has given buyers the chance to reset the clock back before January’s historic price spike. Investing sentiment in gold has only been stronger at the peak of the financial crisis and then the Covid pandemic.”
Tracking the number of gold buyers versus sellers on BullionVault each month, the Gold Investor Index is a unique gauge of sentiment built solely from actual gold trading decisions.
Rebased so that a reading of 50.0 would signal a perfect balance of buyers and sellers, the Global Gold Investor Index set a lifetime high of 71.7 in September 2011, and it hit a series low of 47.5 in March 2024 when gold prices rose to what were then fresh record prices in the absence of any notable economic or financial stress.
This March the index rose to 60.7, adding 2.3 points from February to reach the highest since August 2020 and extending the uptrend begun on the eve of the US presidential election in autumn 2024.
Having risen so sharply during Trump’s first year back in the White House, gold has shocked many observers by falling during the Iran War so far,” says Ash. But while gold now faces headwinds from higher inflation threatening a rise in interest rates, the danger of economic stagflation only boosts the need to spread portfolio risk as the geopolitical order breaks down.
“The breadth of demand says that gold remains a compelling investment in today’s uncertain and increasingly dangerous world.”
By weight, gold’s price drop saw BullionVault’s global clientbase buy more gold than they sold for the first time since October, growing their total holdings by 0.2% to more than 43.4 tonnes worth £4.8 billion.
New account openings fell by one-third from February’s figure (-33.2%) and totalled less than two-fifths of January’s all-time record (-60.5%). But March still marked the 8th strongest month for first-time users worldwide in BullionVault’s 21-year history.
Altogether, the first 3 months of 2026 have now brought more new customers to the West London fintech than all but 3 full calendar years since it opened in April 2005.
