In Gold We Trust 2011: The Climax of the Golden Decade
16. Februar 2026
In 2026, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the In Gold We Trust report. To mark this milestone, we are revisiting 20 years, 20 defining threads — each one highlighting a vintage that helped shape today’s understanding of gold and the global monetary system.
We now turn to 2009, the third edition of the report, not to mention that this was the one first titled In Gold We Trust. Being published in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, it captured a gold bull market that was not broken by the crisis, but instead about to accelerate.
As highlighted in the In Gold We Trust 2025 report, the year 2009 falls squarely into the second half of the 2000s secular gold bull market, a period we later dubbed the Golden Decade.
While gold had already been in a bull market since the early 2000s, it was after the turbulence of 2008 that the price action began to intensify meaningfully. In spite of the foundations had been laid earlier, momentum was now building toward what would ultimately culminate in the 2011 peak.
The Global Financial Crisis triggered forced liquidations, extreme volatility, and sharp corrections across nearly all asset classes.
Gold was no exception in the short term. At any rate, in relative terms, it outperformed most assets, clearly demonstrating that the secular bull market remained intact, even under extreme systemic stress.
Corrections were not interpreted as failures. Instead, the 2009 report framed them as necessary pauses within a broader upward trend. Needless to say, this view would soon be validated.
One of the report’s most compelling arguments was gold’s exceptional risk/return characteristics.
From 2001 to 2009, gold delivered approximately 16% annualized returns, outperforming equities and commodities, including through the financial crisis. Importantly, gold did not merely preserve capital during such turbulent times, it managed to compound it.
Obviously, this reinforced gold’s role as both a defensive asset and a long-term return generator.
The report posed a question that reads strikingly well in hindsight:
“But are we after the gold rush already? It is a legitimate question to ask whether we are facing an imminent trend reversal or if the recent correction was nothing but a ‘little breather’ ahead of the next massive upward swing.”
With the benefit of hindsight, the answer was clear. The big momentum was still ahead.
A central pillar of the 2009 edition was its Austrian School–inspired framework, focusing on:
Zero interest rate policies
Exploding central bank balance sheets
Rapidly rising global debt levels
Together, these forces were described as a “perfect basis” for higher gold prices. In this context, gold was positioned as a hedge against fiat currency erosion, rather than merely an inflation trade.
The report documented a dramatic shift in investor behavior:
ETF inflows surged
Physical coin and bar demand soared
Investment demand jumped +248% year over year in early 2009
Apparently, institutional investors were finally rediscovering gold’s monetary role, accelerating a structural expansion of the investor base that would persist for years.
Gold mining equities also returned to center stage. The report argued that:
Producer de-hedging would reduce effective supply
Rising input costs would cap production growth
Higher gold prices would increasingly flow through to miners’ margins
As a result, mining equities were seen as offering leverage to the upside in a sustained gold bull market.
The 2009 report outlined two key price objectives:
USD 1,300 as an initial milestone
USD 2,300 as the inflation-adjusted all-time high from 1980
While ambitious at the time, these targets were grounded in monetary and structural analysis. Gold ultimately reached the USD 1,300 level in late September 2010, validating the framework once again.
An often-overlooked insight emphasized in the report was that gold can also perform well during deflationary shocks.
As an example, the report cited Homestake Mining, which rose sixfold during the Great Depression while the Dow Jones Industrial Average collapsed. Gold, therefore, was framed not only as an inflation hedge, but as financial insurance across regimes.
A historic shift was also underway. Central banks, which had been net sellers of gold for decades, began turning into net buyers, particularly in emerging markets such as China and Russia.
Visibly, this marked the beginning of gold’s quiet re-monetization, a trend that continues to shape the market today.
With hindsight, the In Gold We Trust 2009 report captured a pivotal moment:
Crisis acting as a catalyst, not a derailment
Corrections within a broader bull market
The Golden Decade entering its decisive phase
For those interested in revisiting this crucial vintage, the full report remains highly relevant today.
📘 Read the In Gold We Trust report 2009 to revisit this incredible period.
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