I recently had an interesting thought while scrolling through the commodity markets: Is platinum really worth more than gold? Sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? But that’s exactly what one of the more exciting discussions in the precious metals sector is currently about.

The thing is, platinum has long been in the shadow of gold. For years, the metal traded steadily around the $1,000 mark, while gold soared from record high to record high. In early 2025, platinum was still just under $900 — then, starting in June of this year, a rally occurred that honestly no one saw coming. Within a few months, the price shot up from below $1,000 to over $2,900. That’s an increase of over 200 percent in one year.

For comparison: gold has also risen significantly, but platinum outperformed. Looking at the one-year perspective, platinum gained about 110 percent, while gold increased by roughly 70 percent. Interestingly, platinum is still cheaper than gold — the absolute price gap is even historically large. As of early 2026, gold costs about $2,700 more per ounce than platinum. That’s crazy considering platinum is rarer.

What’s behind this? That’s the real story. Platinum isn’t just an investment asset like gold — it’s also a consumable. The automotive industry needs it for catalytic converters, medicine for implants, the chemical industry for fertilizers. And now comes the game-changer: hydrogen and fuel cells. These are the future technologies that platinum could benefit from.

By mid-2025, this perfect storm came together. South Africa, which supplies about 70 to 80 percent of the world’s platinum production, faced massive production problems. Power outages, underinvestment, operational challenges. Supply became tight. At the same time, demand increased — especially from China for bars and coins. Geopolitical tensions, a weak US dollar, and large ETF inflows also contributed. It was like a perfect storm for platinum prices.

But then reality hit. At the end of January, platinum reached its new all-time high of $2,925 — and then a brutal correction followed. Within six trading days, the price fell by over 35 percent to $1,882. This also highlights a big problem: the platinum futures market is significantly less liquid than the gold market. With only around 73,500 open contracts compared to over $200 billion in the gold market — this leads to extreme volatility in both directions.

The question now is: Is platinum really worth more than gold in the long run? That depends on how you see it. For short-term traders, platinum remains interesting because of its volatility. For long-term investors, it could make sense as a portfolio addition, since it sometimes moves counter to other assets and has its own supply and demand dynamics.

The World Platinum Investment Council expects a nearly balanced market in 2026, but after that, deficits are expected to return — at least until 2029. This means above-ground stocks could shrink. Long-term, platinum might be driven by the hydrogen economy — the WPIC forecasts an additional demand of 875,000 to 900,000 ounces by 2030 from fuel cell vehicles and electrolyzers.

However, analysts disagree. Heraeus Precious Metals expects $1,300 to $1,800, Bank of America sees $2,450, and Commerzbank forecasts $1,800. This shows the uncertainty surrounding the precious metal.

For me personally, what’s interesting about platinum isn’t whether it’s worth more than gold — but that it’s finally getting attention again. For years, platinum was ignored; now it’s suddenly a hot topic. Whether this is sustainable or just a rally, the next few months will tell. The structural supply shortage remains, which could limit downside risks. But the extreme volatility also means only experienced traders should act aggressively here. For more conservative portfolios, a small allocation might make sense — but with caution and regular rebalancing.