Can Gold Make Another 10% Climb in 2026?

Welcome to the US Crypto News Morning Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.

Grab a coffee. The year is still young, but the gold market is already sending a message that long-term assumptions may be getting rewritten faster than expected.

Crypto News of the Day: Goldman Sachs Raises 2026 Gold Price Target from $4,900 to $5,400

Gold has barely made it through the first month of 2026, yet Goldman Sachs is already growing more confident that the rally has further to run.

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With spot gold trading around $4,827 at the time of writing, just below its all-time high of $4,888 set on January 21, the Wall Street giant has raised its year-end 2026 gold price forecast to $5,400 per ounce.

Indeed, the revision comes just weeks into the new year. It also comes barely a month after market analysts and crypto commentators alike widely cited Goldman’s prior projection.

Notably, before this revision, Goldman Sachs had forecast the gold price to reach $4,900 in 2026. This means a 10% raise only weeks after the investment banker’s previous position.

Since then, prices have surged far faster than anticipated. It has forced institutions to reassess both the pace and durability of gold’s ascent, as reported in the previous US Crypto News publication.

According to Goldman Sachs, the catalyst for the revised forecast is intensifying competition for a finite pool of physical bullion.

“The rally has accelerated since 2025 because central banks started competing for limited bullion with private sector investors,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note cited by Business Insider.

The bank’s analysts say the shift marks a meaningful evolution from the 2023–2024 period, when official-sector buying alone underpinned much of gold’s upside.

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The bank now expects central banks to purchase an average of 60 metric tons of gold per month in 2026. This, they say, would be driven by emerging markets diversifying their reserves away from traditional fiat exposure.

Goldman’s analysts, including Daan Struyven and Lina Thomas, estimate that central banks will account for the bulk of gold’s projected gains, with private-sector demand adding incremental upside.

Private Investors Enter the Frame as Gold’s Structural Bull Case Hardens

Private investors, however, are playing an increasingly important role. Goldman highlighted three forces as investors seek hedges against macroeconomic and geopolitical risk:

“It’s just three weeks into 2026, and Goldman Sachs analysts already increased their year-end price target for gold… because the key upside risk we have flagged – private sector diversification into gold – has started to realize,” commented Lisa Abramowicz.

Some analysts argue that prices may already justify the bank’s optimism, as the precious metal is outperforming Bitcoin and oil.

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The alignment between institutional forecasts and proprietary models (gold’s fundamental value) further fuels bullish sentiment.

Goldman Sachs has also pushed back against the idea that rising prices will naturally curb demand. In its report, the bank stressed that “high prices won’t cure high prices” for gold, noting that new mine supply adds only about 1% to the global stock each year.

Because most gold already exists and changes hands, XAU price gains typically stall only when demand weakens. Based on this, they cite:

• Easing geopolitical tensions
• Reduced reserve diversification, or
• A shift by the Federal Reserve from cutting rates to tightening policy.

For now, none of those conditions appears imminent. Gold is up roughly 11% year-to-date and has more than doubled since early 2023.

With prices already pressing against the psychologically important $5,000 level, Goldman’s early-year upgrade suggests a growing institutional belief that gold’s structural bull market remains firmly intact.

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Here’s a summary of more US crypto news to follow today:

Crypto Equities Pre-Market Overview

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Strategy (MSTR)	$163.81	$163.80 (-0.0061%)
Coinbase (COIN)	$226.93	$228.50 (+0.68%)
Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY)	$32.45	$32.90 (+1.39%)
MARA Holdings (MARA)	$10.56	$10.68 (+1.14%)
Riot Platforms (RIOT)	$17.25	$17.56 (+1.80%)
Core Scientific (CORZ)	$18.20	$18.45 (+1.37%)