Advisors with the foresight - or plain old good luck - to have allocated clients into gold or gold mining stocks are certainly pleased with their decision. The yellow metal has nearly doubled in the past 12 months and is up over 20% in 2026 alone. Over the past 5 years, gold has steadily risen from $1,700 an ounce to more than $5,300.
All of which begs the question, after such a tremendous run, what should advisors do with their gold stakes now?
Nolan Mauk, investment research analyst at Orion, for one, says the price action in gold and silver so far in 2026 appears to be behavioral, and the rally that started amidst heightened geopolitical volatility has snowballed into what may be considered a FOMO trade. As a result, he believes investors should be aware of short-term correction risk.
That said, his longer-term outlook for gold remains positive primarily due to central banks growing their reserves as purchasing activity remains strong even amid higher gold prices. Furthermore, he says dollar weakness has continued into 2026, increasing gold’s attractiveness as a store of value.
“If markets expect the dollar to be entering a structural downturn, gold should continue to be a beneficiary,” Mauk said.
As for gold mining stocks, Mauk says investors must be comfortable accepting a much higher level of volatility and an extra layer of risk exposure in equity market risk.
Stressed Mauk: “If the outlook for gold were to change, gold miners would likely be the first to feel the effects at high magnitudes.”
For the record, the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (Ticker: GDX) is up almost 200% in the past year and over 27% YTD.
Elsewhere, Wheeler Crowley, co-founder and financial advisor at CoFi Advisors, views gold as a “useful diversifier” at this point, as it appears to reflect a change in how the rest of the world views the safety and utility of the U.S. dollar. In his opinion, that may remain the case for a while, adding that he’s “not trying to call a top or predict a bubble, as some of these moves have good reasons.”
Aakash Doshi, head of gold strategy at State Street Investment Management, expects gold to push higher into the mid-$5,000s by midyear now that it has eclipsed the $5K level. The structural themes supporting gold appear intact for ongoing bullion market inflows as investors seek diversification and left-tail portfolio hedges, according to Doshi.
As for gold mining stocks, he says they are subject to company management decisions, earnings and dividends, and significant upstream capex to extract a resource. As a result, he says they will have a “high beta to the equity sector broadly and may not provide the diversification benefits of gold.”
Finally, Joe Cavatoni, chief market strategist at the World Gold Council, points out that gold's role in investment portfolios is increasing, and it's playing a key diversification role, especially as investors reassess traditional “safe” assets like government bonds, which are now showing greater volatility and higher correlation with equities. Even at this point, he see conditions for ongoing gold demand strong, as disruptive policies, trade negotiations, and debt burdens are all top of mind for global investors.
Cavatoni recommends gold investors keep a close eye on pending decisions on tariffs and critical minerals, a potential US-China Trump-Xi meeting, the appointment of a new Fed chair, and the US midterm elections. In other words, events that are likely to keep policy uncertainty and market volatility elevated.
“Even as we reach record-high prices, we think the right question is: How will an increased gold allocation to my portfolio affect its performance in a time of significant uncertainty? Against a backdrop of stressed fiat currencies and shifting policy regimes, investors are increasingly turning to gold as a strategic, not just tactical, allocation,” Cavatoni said.
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