Recently reviewing the history of the gold market, I found a fairly interesting pattern—whenever there is a major shift in the economic environment, a plunge in gold prices tends to follow.

Let’s look at the earliest instance. From 1980 to 1982, the gold price was forced down by more than 58%, nearly halving. Back then, the United States and other developed countries were doing everything they could to fight inflation, causing gold’s appeal to drop sharply. On top of that, as the oil crisis gradually eased, risk aversion also faded, and investors began to pull out.

Next came 1983 to 1985—another wave of gold sell-offs, with a decline of 41%. During this period, the global economy entered what’s known as the “Great Moderation.” With developed countries’ economies starting to take off, risk events decreasing, and demand for gold naturally shrinking.

In the 2008 financial crisis, people thought gold would surge, but it instead crashed by 29%. The subprime mortgage crisis and the European debt crisis followed one after another. Large amounts of capital were withdrawn from the market, and both gold and silver were badly affected. The Federal Reserve also began raising interest rates, which only made things worse.

From 2012 to 2015, gold then went through another 39% crash. The drop in April 2013 was especially severe. After that, large amounts of capital flowed into the stock market and the real estate market, leaving a clear shortfall in demand for gold investment, and prices continued to fall.

The last time was from mid-2016 to the end of the year, when gold crashed by 16.6%. At the time, the market expected the U.S. to raise rates, and global economic growth was moving quickly. Investors therefore sold off the gold they held.

Now we are at another critical moment. Will the market changes brought by the U.S. presidential election trigger a sixth gold crash? This is a question worth continued attention. Every crash behind it reflects a shift in market sentiment; understanding these historical patterns can still help in judging future trends.