Gold opened at $2,997.50 on Tuesday after declining 2.16% during Monday trading. While the precious metal opened below its historic price milestone of $3,000 per ounce, first achieved last month, the price of gold rose above $3,000 in early trading hours Tuesday morning.

Two opposing forces may be creating volatility for gold: Some investors are moving into gold as a safe-haven asset, while others are selling gold to cover stock market losses after the S&P 500 fell more than 9% last week.

​​Yesterday, the spot price for one ounce of gold fell 2.16% to $2,951.30 after opening the day at $3,016.40. The 2.16% decline improved slightly on the intraday low of $2,949.70. Gold is up 16.15% since January 1 and was down 2.55% last week as investors recalibrated in light of U.S. President Trump’s tariff announcements on April 2.

The recalibration has been rough on equities. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% Monday after a day of volatile trading. This was the large-cap index’s third daily loss since President Trump announced his global tariff plan. On Thursday and Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.79% and 4.12%, respectively. Stock markets in Italy, Spain, France, Hong Kong, Germany, and Japan also lost ground. Investors globally are bracing for possible recession and continued high interest rates in the U.S.

The opening price of gold today was $2,997,50, 0.48% lower versus the close of trading on Friday.

The price of gold at opening today was 3.33% higher than the opening price one month ago on March 7.

The price of gold this morning was 38.31% higher than the opening price one year ago on March 8, 2024.

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.

Whether you’re tracking the price of gold since last month or last year, the price of gold charts below shows the precious metal’s steady upward climb in value.

Investing in gold is a four-step process:

1. Set your goal.

2. Set an allocation.

3. Choose a form.

4. Consider your investment timeline.

Today, we’re delving deeper into step 2, setting the appropriate gold allocation. After determining your investment goals for buying gold in the first place, next comes understanding how much to buy.

Learn more: How to invest in gold in four steps

Allocation is the composition of your portfolio across different types of assets, such as stocks, bonds, and gold. Setting a target allocation for each asset type helps you control risk over the long term because asset values change over time.

Stocks appreciate, for example. Unless you periodically rebalance your holdings to restore the target allocation, the appreciation can leave you over-concentrated in equities.

Scott Travers, author of ‘The Coin Collector’s Survival Manual” and editor of COINage magazine recommends holding 5% to 15% of your net worth in gold. Other experts advise going as high as 20% if you are risk-tolerant. A review of gold’s historic behavior in light of your risk appetite should help you identify the right allocation percentage.

Remember, too, that your target allocation includes the value of the gold you already own. Travers recommends checking your jewelry box before buying more gold. Given gold’s sharp rise in value over the past 12 months and more, your gold jewelry may be worth more than you think.

Travers warns against selling your jewelry to buy gold coins because you will pay dealer fees on both transactions.

Historically, gold has shown extended upcycles and downcycles. The precious metal was in a growth phase from 2009 to 2011. It then trended down, failing to set a new high for nine years.

In those lackluster years for gold, your position will negatively impact your overall investment returns. If that feels problematic, a lower allocation percentage is more appropriate. On the other hand, you may be willing to accept gold’s underperforming years so you can benefit more in the good years. In this case, you can target a higher percentage.

The precious metal has been in the news lately and many analysts are bullish on gold. In February, Goldman Sachs expected gold to gain another 8% in 2025, after surging more that 40% in 2024. It’s already blown past that 8% mark. Worries about tariffs and their impact on the U.S. economy are a primary factor.

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