Analysts say central banks may themselves have been trying to build up buffers at a time of growing economic and geopolitical uncertainty. "And so we have seen this big structural fivefold increase in demand for gold from central banks". Another factor may now be helping to drive the gold market upwards: FOMO, or fear of missing out. "The US stock market is 200 times bigger than the gold market, so even a small move out of the big stock market or the big bond market would mean a big percent increase in the much smaller gold market," explains Daan Struyven. But he believes that if there is a sharp economic slowdown and interest rates are slashed, the gold price could go higher in the long run.