Platinum has long been one of the most valuable metals on Earth, prized for its rarity and shine. Found mostly in South Africa and Russia, it is used in jewelry, car parts to clean exhaust, and even medical tools. But its price swings wildly based on supply, demand, and world events. Let’s look back at its history and what the recent jump tells us now.
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, platinum traded for under 100 dollars per ounce, staying steady around that low for yearshttps://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/platinum. Things changed in the 1980s as cars needed more platinum for pollution controls, pushing prices up. By the early 2000s, demand from industry and investors drove it higher still.
The peak came in March 2008, when platinum hit a record 2,290 dollars per ouncehttps://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/platinum. That was during a time of strong car sales worldwide and tight supplies from mines. Then the global money crash hit in 2008, and prices crashed too, falling below 800 dollars by 2009. Investors fled to safer spots like cash.
From 2010 to 2020, platinum bounced around. It climbed above 1,800 dollars in 2011 on supply worries, but then dropped as electric cars cut demand for its use in engineshttps://www.statista.com/statistics/254519/average-platinum-price/. Yearly averages stayed between 900 and 1,100 dollars for much of the 2010shttps://www.statista.com/statistics/254519/average-platinum-price/. By 2024, it hovered lower, around 1,000 dollars on average, hurt by slower industry growth.
Now in late 2025, platinum is roaring back. On December 18, it jumped to 1,974 dollars per ounce, up 2.4 percent in one day and 27 percent in the past monthhttps://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/platinum. That’s the highest since 2008, more than double last year’s level at this time. Investors are buying it like gold as a safe haven amid money worries, called the debasement tradehttps://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/platinum. US job data shows unemployment rising, sparking bets on interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, which boosts metals like platinumhttps://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/platinum.
This surge echoes past rallies. Like in 2008, tight supplies and economic fears mix with investor rush. But today’s signal is clear: markets fear loose money policies and shaky jobs data. Platinum acts as a warning light for bigger troubles, much like it did before past peaks. Prices in Europe match this trend, with recent highs around 116 euros per gram in Decemberhttps://www.heraeus-precious-metals.com/en/precious-metal-prices-reports/precious-metal-prices/heraeus-precious-metal-prices-historical/. Charts over 10 years show this as a sharp break from the flat 2020shttps://www.goldcore.com/platinum-price/ten-year-platinum-price-chart.
Sources
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/platinum
https://www.heraeus-precious-metals.com/en/precious-metal-prices-reports/precious-metal-prices/heraeus-precious-metal-prices-historical/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/254519/average-platinum-price/
https://www.barchart.com/futures/quotes/PL*0/historical-prices
http://www.kitco.com/charts/liveplatinum.html
https://www.goldcore.com/platinum-price/ten-year-platinum-price-chart
https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/XPTUSD/
https://www.investing.com/commodities/platinum