Where today sits inside the four-month band

A single day’s rate is just a point. This page explains what the highest and lowest readings of the past four months actually mean for a buyer, and why the distance from each matters more than the number itself. The live table above shows today against those extremes, the median, and a month ago.

Where today sits

The same benchmark, read against its own record rather than against a headline.

Benchmark read: 13.10.2026 17:30

The high is a ceiling of recent memory

The four-month high is the most expensive the benchmark has been in that window. It is not a permanent ceiling, and it does not mean the price cannot go higher. But it is the level at which buyers in the recent past were willing to pay, and it marks the top of the range this site measures.

For someone deciding whether to buy this week, the high is a reference point, not a prediction. If today is close to the high, the buyer is paying near the top of what the market has recently accepted. If today is far below the high, the buyer is paying less than the most recent peak. Neither fact alone tells you whether to buy.

The low is a floor of recent memory

The four-month low is the cheapest the benchmark has been in that window. Like the high, it is not a promise that the price cannot go lower. It is simply the bottom of the range this site measures, and it marks the level at which sellers in the recent past were willing to part with gold.

A buyer who sees today near the low may feel they are getting a bargain, but the low is only meaningful in hindsight. The price can fall below it tomorrow. The low is useful because it shows how much room there has been between the top and the bottom, and where today sits on that ladder.

The median is the middle of the road

The median is the middle value when all readings from the past four months are lined up from lowest to highest. Half the days were above it, and half were below. It is not the average, and it is less sensitive to a few extreme days. The median is the best single number for describing where the market has spent most of its time.

If today is above the median, gold is more expensive than it has been on most days in the past four months. If today is below the median, it is cheaper than most days. That comparison is often more useful than the high or the low, because it tells you whether today is typical or unusual.

A month ago is the short memory

The benchmark from a month ago is included because it captures the most recent drift. Four months is long enough to include a seasonal swing, but a month is short enough to show whether the price has been rising or falling lately. If today is higher than a month ago, the trend has been upward; if lower, downward.

This comparison matters because a buyer’s memory is often short. A price that seems high today may be lower than it was a month ago, and a price that seems low may be higher. The month-ago column in the table above gives that immediate context without requiring the reader to remember anything.

How many days fell rather than rose

The last column of the table counts how many of the past four months’ trading days closed lower than the day before. That count is a measure of direction, not of size. A market can fall on many days but by tiny amounts, or fall on few days but by large amounts.

This count is useful because it reveals whether the recent drift has been mostly down or mostly up. If more than half the days fell, the market has been sliding even if the net change over the period is small. If fewer than half fell, the market has been climbing. The count is a simple way to see the prevailing wind.

Why a single day cannot answer the question

A single day’s rate tells you the price at one moment. It does not tell you whether that price is high or low, because high and low are relative. The same number can be a bargain in one month and a rip-off in another. Only a range, built from many days, can place today in context.

This is why the table above exists. It gives the high, the low, the median, the month-ago reading and the count of down days. Together, these five reference points answer the question that a single figure cannot: is today expensive or cheap by this market’s own recent standards?

A near-high reading changes the urgency, not the direction

When today's rate sits close to the top of the four-month band, the practical question is not whether gold will go higher. The question is whether a buyer can wait for a pullback that may never arrive. A near-high reading often arrives during peak wedding or festival demand, when buyers are already competing for limited stock. In that setting, waiting for a quiet day is a bet that the market will pause. It may not.

The range shows that the high is a recent memory, not a permanent ceiling. A buyer who needs gold this week and sees a near-high reading should not expect a jeweller to offer a discount from the benchmark. The benchmark is the base for the day's pricing, and a high benchmark simply means every ornament starts from a higher floor. The decision becomes one of timing: buy now and accept the high base, or delay and hope the demand wave passes.

A near-high reading also changes how a buyer should think about the buy-back rate. When the benchmark is high, the gap between what a buyer pays and what a seller receives often widens. Jewellers may keep buy-back rates lower relative to the benchmark to protect their margin on a day when they expect to sell a lot. That means a high benchmark is not automatically a good day to sell old gold. The range tells you where you stand, but the counter price still depends on the shop.

A near-low reading is not a promise that tomorrow will be cheaper

When today's rate sits near the bottom of the four-month band, the temptation is to wait for one more drop. The range warns against that. A low reading often appears when the rupee strengthens or international gold pauses, but those conditions can reverse within a day. The four-month low is a floor of recent memory, not a guarantee that the next move is downward. A buyer who waits for a lower rate may be waiting for a day that never comes.

The practical consequence of a near-low reading is that the cost of delay is asymmetric. If a buyer needs gold for an upcoming event, waiting for a lower benchmark risks missing the current low and paying more later. The range shows how often a low reading has been followed by a bounce. That pattern is not a prediction, but it is a reminder that lows are often brief. The decision to buy near the low should weigh the cost of being wrong.

A near-low reading also affects the making charge conversation. On a low benchmark day, jewellers may be more willing to negotiate on making charges because their base metal cost is lower. That is a practical lever a buyer can pull. The benchmark itself is not negotiable, but the charges on top of it sometimes are. A low day is the best day to ask, because the shop's arithmetic has more room.

The median is the number a buyer should keep in the back of the mind

The median of the four-month band is the rate above which half the days sat and below which the other half sat. It is not an average, and that distinction matters. An average can be dragged around by a few extreme days, but the median is the middle of the actual daily readings. When today's rate is above the median, a buyer is paying more than most days in the window. When it is below, the buyer is paying less than most days.

The median gives a buyer a reference point that a single day's rate cannot. A rate that looks high in absolute terms may still be below the median of the last four months, meaning it is actually a relatively cheap day. Without the median, a buyer has no way to know whether a number is good or bad. The range page puts today's rate next to the median precisely so that comparison is immediate.

The median also helps when a buyer is trying to decide between buying today and buying a month ago. A month ago is a single point in the past; the median is the whole shape of the recent market. If today's rate is below the median, then buying today is cheaper than the typical day over the last four months, even if it is higher than the one day from a month ago. That is the kind of context a single comparison cannot provide.

The count of down days is a measure of pressure, not a forecast

The page shows how many of the last four months closed lower than the previous reading. That count is not a prediction of the next move. It is a measure of how often the benchmark has been under downward pressure. A high count of down days means the market has spent more time falling than rising, which often happens when the rupee strengthens or international gold corrects. A low count means the opposite.

A buyer should not read a high count of down days as a reason to wait for more falls. The count is backward-looking. By the time a buyer sees it, the pressure may have already shifted. What the count does is set expectations: if gold has fallen on most days recently, a buyer should be less surprised by a bounce. The range holds both the direction and the reversal.

The count of down days also matters for anyone selling old gold. A period with many down days means the buy-back rate offered by a jeweller may also have been falling, because jewellers base buy-back offers on the current benchmark. A seller who sees a long run of down days should know that the floor may be near. The count is a signal of how much the market has already moved, not how much it will move next.