rewrite this title The Daily Breakdown: Gold Shines to Record Highs in 2025

The Daily Breakdown takes a closer look at gold after its strong 2025 surge, along with the charts for the GLD ETF.

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What’s Happening?

Silver and gold have caught a real boost so far this year, collectively rising about 40%. A volatile start to 2025 sent safe-haven assets (like gold) soaring to start the year. Once risk-on assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies began to rebound, it wasn’t at the expense of precious metals. 

A few things are helping power this move, including persistent inflation and a weaker US dollar (the dollar is down more than 10% so far this year). Let’s dig in.

Gold: +39% YTD

After climbing 25% in the first four months of the year, gold traded sideways until August. Now, gold is back on the move.

It’s been higher in nine of the last ten days and is hitting its fifth record high in the last six days. Gold has only had one down month so far this year — in July, when it fell a paltry 0.4%. And remember, gold has beaten the S&P 500 in four of the last seven years (which is significant, given that the S&P 500 rallied more than 20% in each of the last two years). 

Ways to invest: Aside from buying gold futures or physical gold (like coins or bullion), the GLD ETF is a common approach for investors. So are gold mining ETFs, like GDX and GDXJ — note that the latter group tends to be a bit more volatile. 

Silver: +43% YTD

Like gold, silver has enjoyed a recent rally, now trading north of $40 an ounce. Up more than 14% so far in Q3, sIlver is trying to close out its seventh quarterly rally in the last eight quarters. Silver is now hitting its highest level since 2011, when it hit a record high of almost $50 an ounce.

Ways to invest: Aside from silver futures or physical silver, the SLV ETF is a common approach for investors.

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The Setup — GLD ETF

At the end of August, the GLD ETF broke out over key resistance near $316, which had been in place since April. 

With a strong follow-through playing out, bulls are looking for this prior area of resistance to act as support in the future. Further, they’re looking for this breakout to fuel a larger rally over the long term. Should GLD break below this level, bearish momentum could accelerate. 

Options

Investors who are bullish on the GLD ETF — or the SLV ETF for that matter — can also utilize options. Bulls can buy calls or call spreads to speculate on more upside, while bears can buy puts or puts spreads to speculate on more downside. 

In either scenario, it may be advantageous to have adequate time until the option’s expiration. For those looking to learn more about options, consider visiting the eToro Academy.

What Wall Street’s Watching

AAPL

Today marks Apple’s 2025 iPhone event — also known as the “Awe Dropping” event. It’s scheduled to start today at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET). During the event, Apple is expected to unveil the new iPhone 17 line, the Apple Watch Series 11, and the AirPods Pro 3. Shares are up almost 15% since the end of July. Check out the chart for AAPL. 

NBIS

Shares of Nebius Group are rising more than 50% in pre-market trading on reports that the Amsterdam-based firm secured an artificial intelligence infrastructure deal worth as much as $19.4 billion with Microsoft. MSFT shares are up slightly in pre-market trading. 

GOOG

Shares of Alphabet finished lower yesterday, but not before notching yet another record high. It has now hit a new record high in six of the last seven trading sessions, as investors gravitated toward the Mag 7 stock with the lowest forward earnings valuation. Dig into the fundamentals for GOOG.

Disclaimer:

Please note that due to market volatility, some of the prices may have already been reached and scenarios played out.