Around the time of the financial crisis of 2008, precious metals pricing began to change drastically. Beginning in late 2007, a trend of price instability began to be seen for gold, silver, platinum, and (although not a precious metal in the traditional sense), copper.

The price of all these metals saw a tremendous upward swing that has not subsided since then. Historical curves in the range of 25 years or greater show that the prices of the aforementioned metals moved along low, but steady levels.

Then suddenly, financial Armageddon occurred and prices spiked. Between 2008 and 2012, many financial assets lost their nominal value, which, consequently caused many recessions to occur. As of yet, prices of precious metals have yet to return to pre-crisis levels.

Concurrently, an increased amount of instability with copper prices rising and falling along with other metals as economic news associated with the global market impacts the commodities markets has been associated with the rise in the base value of these metals.