With gold and silver hitting fresh record prices today, investors are holding on tight to precious metals for 2026, new research reveals from BullionVault.
Despite the ‘hard money’ metals both making their most dramatic annual gains since 1979, more than nine in ten respondents to BullionVault’s latest customer survey say they plan to keep or increase their holdings this year.
On average, users of the West London fintech, now caring for a record £7.3 billion of gold, silver, platinum and palladium for its global client base, say that they hold one-third of their total savings and investments in precious metals (33.3%). That’s sharply higher from one quarter (24.6%) twelve months ago and it’s twice the average proportion reported to BullionVault’s survey in New Year 2024 (16.4%).
That compares with US investment bank Morgan Stanley now recommending a 20% allocation to gold and Bank of America suggesting as much as 30%.
“Putting one-third of your wealth into precious metals may sound crazy,” says BullionVault director of research Adrian Ash. “But it’s only a little ahead of what Wall Street now recommends, and for long-term investors it’s a natural outcome of keeping the faith in gold and silver as their multi-year bull market continues.
“Diversification and debasement are the top reasons why people are investing in precious metals today,”
BullionVault’s latest customer survey finds that almost 1-in-2 precious metal investors (47.4%) plan to buy more bullion in 2026, with almost the same number (44.4%) planning to leave their position unchanged.
Among that second group, the vast majority (84.0%) say they will maintain the weight of their holdings if prices continue to rise, letting their allocation to precious metals grow further as a proportion of their total portfolio.
Asked to name their single largest motive for buying and owning precious metals, BullionVault’s latest survey reveals that ‘crisis insurance’ is the No.1 appeal (22.4%), followed by fear of ‘inflation’ as the value of currency is debased (21.8%).
That’s followed by the appeal of gold and silver as ‘hard money’ likely to become currency again one day (17.1%) and then as a ‘bedrock investment’ (12.9%) underpinning the investor’s wider portfolio in good times and bad.
Says Ash: “Just as much as this bull market is about buyers bidding up prices, it’s also about existing investors refusing to sell even at these record levels. While the current spike in gold and silver prices raises the risk of a nasty correction, geopolitical turmoil and the threat of long-term inflation now dominate investor concerns. The number of new buyers is surging while existing investors continue to hold tight.”
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