For gold and silver, September 2026 was a month in which the price was driven not by news from the Middle East but by interest rates. Gold began the month around 4,435 dollars per troy ounce, touched almost 4,500 dollars on 3 September and then slipped back in stages to about 4,160 dollars. What remained was a loss of around 6 percent. Silver had an even harder time and gave up about 9.5 percent. Below we set out the full month, with the question that matters to our clients: what does a month like that mean if you want to sell old gold, jewellery or silver?
The gold price in September 2026: the numbers
| Gold | Silver | |
|---|---|---|
| Level at the end of August | about 4,435 dollars | about 66.5 dollars |
| Highest point | 4,491 dollars (3 September) | about 67.5 dollars (10 September) |
| Lowest point | about 4,113 dollars (night of 28 to 29 September) | about 60.0 dollars (30 September) |
| Level on 30 September | about 4,160 dollars | about 60.2 dollars |
| Movement over the month | about minus 6 percent | about minus 9.5 percent |
Sources differ slightly on the exact monthly figure, because they use a different closing moment. Kitco spoke of almost 6 percent lost for gold, Trading Economics of 5.3 percent and BullionVault of 8.5 percent. The direction and the order of magnitude are settled.
What stands out about the shape of the month is that the highest level came as early as the third trading day and the lowest on the second to last. Between those two points lies almost 380 dollars per troy ounce. This was not a smooth slide but a series of sharp steps down, each followed by a small recovery. How that daily price comes about, you can read on our page about the current gold price.
Three events that shaped the month
Early September: war news that worked against gold. The month opened in the wake of the American strike on Iranian missile launchers near the Strait of Hormuz on 30 August. Normally such news is fuel for gold, but this time it went differently. The oil price rose, expected inflation rose with it, and that made a rate increase all the more likely. Gold lost 2.86 percent on 1 September and ended the week six percent lower. Two days later the price bounced 2.36 percent to 4,491 dollars, the high of the month, as oil steadied.
16 September: the Fed raises rates for the first time since 2023. The American central bank lifted its policy rate by a quarter of a point, to a range of 3.75 to 4 percent. The decision was unanimous, twelve votes to none, and chair Kevin Warsh pointed to the resilience of the American economy and to inflation that remains too high. It was the first increase since 2023, and the bank signalled that another could still follow this year. Gold flinched and then recovered, but the tone was set. A week earlier the European Central Bank had already raised its rate, which cost silver more than 5 percent in a single day.
28 September: the bond market takes over. The final week of the month was decided not by a central bank but by the bond market. Strong American data drove the yield on long dated government paper higher still. According to BullionVault, the American ten year yield added 0.49 percentage points in September, the steepest monthly rise since September 2023. The thirty year yield reached 5.62 percent, the highest since June 2002. Gold lost 2.52 percent on Monday 28 September and dropped below 4,200 dollars, the lowest in almost eight weeks. Silver gave up almost 4 percent over those days.
The last day of the month brought one more small lift. American inflation for August came in softer than expected at 3.4 percent year on year, and the priced in chance of another rate increase in October fell within a week from around 70 percent to around one third. Gold briefly jumped to 4,218 dollars but handed that gain back the same day as the dollar firmed.
Silver lost almost a tenth of its value
Silver went from about 66.5 to about 60.2 dollars per troy ounce in September, roughly 9.5 percent lower. Trading Economics arrives at 9.2 percent for the same period. The high was on 10 September around 67.5 dollars, the low on the very last day of the month around 60 dollars.
That silver fell harder than gold is not an exception but the rule. The market is smaller and more than half of it is consumed by industry, so the price reacts more sharply in both directions. In August that was still an advantage, with a gain of about 15 percent against about 10 percent for gold. In September the same mechanism worked the other way. For anyone with silver cutlery, old coins or silver jewellery at home, that matters mainly in practical terms: what a lot of silver yields depends more on the day you come by than it does with gold. Which items are solid and which are only silver plated, we explain on the page about selling silver.
Where the price stands today
A monthly review is not a snapshot of today, so we put the current level right beside it. On Thursday 1 October gold trades around 4,154 dollars per troy ounce, in a range of 4,138 to 4,194 dollars over the past session. Silver sits around 60.40 dollars. The market is waiting for the American jobs report of Friday 2 October, because that figure will help decide whether the central bank raises again in October.
Put that in perspective. Despite a weak September, gold still stands higher than a year ago, but well below the record of late January 2026, when the price reached 5,589.38 dollars. September was therefore not a turning point in a rising market but the continuation of a cooling that began after that record.
What a month like this means if you sell old gold
The gap between the highest and the lowest point of September comes to almost 380 dollars per troy ounce, about 8.5 percent. For a collection of old jewellery containing some hundred grams of fine gold, that already amounts to more than a thousand euros of difference, purely because of the day the scales came out.
Set against that, other factors often weigh more heavily than the daily price. First the actual gold content: an 18 carat necklace contains 75 percent gold, a 9 carat one barely 37.5 percent, and that gap drowns out any price movement of a few percent. Second the exchange rate, because the world market quotes in dollars while you are paid in euros. How that step from world price to payment works in practice is set out step by step at selling old gold.
September was a weak month for gold and a weaker one for silver, with interest rates as the main cause. Do not let a monthly figure or a newspaper headline from last week guide you, whichever way it points. Ask for the level on the day itself, and have your items weighed and tested for content before you compare prices.
October opens with two near term markers: the jobs report of 2 October and the rate meeting later in the month. Both can move the price substantially again, in either direction. We follow it every working day and put the new level on the site each time.