LBMA Precious Metals Conference 2025: Gold Expected to Approach $5,000 an Ounce

After two years of significantly underestimating gold’s potential, market participants are now catching up, with expectations that the precious metal will test support just below $5,000 an ounce by this time next year, according to sentiment at the 2025 London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Global Precious Metals Conference.

A survey conducted during the conference revealed that delegates expect gold prices to rise to $4,980.30 per ounce, reflecting a 25% increase from current levels. This bullish outlook comes despite the sharp drop in gold prices below $4,000, following a heavy wave of profit-taking after record highs above $4,360 an ounce.

Last year, conference participants predicted that gold would reach around $2,941 per ounce, but prices are now more than one-third higher than those earlier forecasts.

Gold is currently witnessing its strongest annual performance since 1979, with prices up more than 50% this year. However, it is not the best-performing asset in the precious metals complex — silver is trading at $47.14 per ounce, up 61% year-to-date, while platinum last traded at $1,591 per ounce, up more than 93% so far this year.

According to the survey, 40% of participants expect gold to be the top-performing asset in the precious metals sector through 2026. Last year, delegates expected silver to lead the market, but few anticipated platinum’s strong performance since the summer.

The LBMA survey also showed that 30% of attendees expect platinum prices to maintain their upward momentum, making it the best-performing asset this year, with prices projected to rise to $1,815.50 per ounce by next year — a 14% increase from current levels.

As for silver, 21% of participants expect it to be the top performer next year, with prices forecast to climb to $59.10 per ounce by this time next year — a 25% gain from current levels.

Although gold has significantly outperformed expectations, many analysts said its performance was not surprising, as investment demand surged sharply throughout the year.

During a panel discussion at the start of the conference, Wayne Gordon, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer at UBS, said that gold holdings in client portfolios have doubled this year, while the number of clients investing in gold has tripled.

“I think we’ve had to upgrade our forecasts — honestly — about six times this year, even though we started the year believing we were already being quite optimistic,” Gordon said.