Price used in this article: pure gold around €120/g on 8 June 2026, down from ~€124/g at the end of May. The price moves every day — check it at the date you're reading.
Every month, I set aside a sum for my daughters, and as soon as I have enough, I buy a little gold. When the price corrected this spring after the start-of-year peak, I asked myself the same question as everyone: is this the right moment to buy, or will it drop further?
Spoiler: nobody knows. But there's still an honest way to reason — and a dip like this one genuinely changes something, provided you buy the right vehicle.
"Now's the time to buy!" — who's telling you that, again?
Type "buy gold now" and look at who answers: gold sellers. When the price rises, they tell you to buy before it climbs further. When it drops, they tell you to buy while it's cheaper. In both cases the conclusion is the same, funnily enough: buy, from us, right now.
Me, I don't sell gold, I reference shops. So I can tell you the thing sellers won't: perfect market timing doesn't exist. Nobody knows whether the price will be higher or lower in six months. What you can control is how much you pay for gold above its real value. And that depends mostly on the vehicle you choose.
The 3 ways to hold gold (and what extra you pay each time)
When we say "buy gold", we mix up three very different things on price and resale:
| Vehicle | Premium at purchase | Resale | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bar / coin | Low | By weight, spot price | Resale tax, not wearable |
| New jewellery | High (2-3× the workmanship) | By pure-gold weight | You mostly pay the markup |
| Second-hand jewellery | Reduced | By weight OR resale of the piece | You need a shop that certifies |
The bar and coin are pure investment gold: you pay a small premium above spot, and on resale you get back the gold weight at the day's price. The downside is the resale taxation (the specific precious-metals regime) and the fact that it sleeps in a safe — you don't wear it, you don't pass it down the same way.
New jewellery in a classic shop is the opposite: you pay for the gold PLUS a big workmanship markup, often two to three times the official per-gram price (I broke this markup down line by line here). Gorgeous for pleasure, bad for pure investment.
Second-hand 18-carat jewellery is my favourite compromise: the first workmanship markup has already been "digested" by the first buyer, so you pay for the gold much closer to its real value, and you get an object you wear, give, pass on. It's pleasure-gold that stays investment-gold.
Why a dip benefits second-hand most
Here's the point nobody makes. On a second-hand piece, your price roughly breaks into two: the metal value (which follows spot) and the premium (what you pay above it, already reduced versus new).
When the price drops as it is now, the "metal" share drops mechanically. And since the second-hand premium is already low, the two advantages stack at the dip: you buy cheaper material, with an already-reduced premium. It's exactly the moment when the gap between "paying gold at its true value" and "paying a jeweller's markup" is at its widest.
Careful, I'm not telling you "the price is at rock bottom, go for it". I don't know that, and the banks announcing gold at $6,000 by end-2026 don't know any better — those are forecasts, not promises. I'm telling you: if you were going to buy gold to wear and keep anyway, a dip is a good moment to do it second-hand in 18-carat, because that's where your euro buys the most real metal.
What I do, myself
I don't try to guess the price. I buy a little, regularly, every month — and when there's a dip like now, I put in a bit more. I note the weight, the date and the price each time, to measure the gain later. And I stick to 18-carat second-hand, stone-free when it's for investment, because the fineness is what holds the value — and definitely not 9-carat, I explained why.
Eleven French second-hand 18-carat gold shops, normalised per gram and sorted by the best deal on the metal.
To wrap up
The right moment to buy isn't a date you guess — it's a vehicle you choose well. On a dip, 18-carat second-hand makes your money work hardest: cheaper metal, already-reduced premium, an object you wear. And if you're wondering instead whether to sell your gold now, I wrote the other side of it.
I'm telling you what I do with my own budget. Make your own choices for your situation — but always look at the price per gram before the price tag.
Sources for the figures cited:
- Pure gold price ~€120/g on 8 June 2026 (≈ €124 end of May): veracash.com — live gold price, accessed 8 June 2026
- Resale taxation of gold (precious metals) — see our 2026 gold resale tax guide
- Why 18-carat holds its value: OrOGramme article