The price of gold in USD was until recently fairly stable because of price manipulation.

The politics of gold: Economist Michael Hudson explains why gold’s price is rising so much

Even though more and more people may be buying gold, the United States and England are making money by essentially engaging in this market manipulation as a source of revenue.

That is one of the factors that was holding down [the price of gold].

Well, central banks also have, in fact, been selling gold short for many decades now. And they’ve been making money by it.

As I said, to buy this option, to buy gold at a fairly low price when you think, “Well, certainly the market is going to go up for gold; the price must be going up for gold, because everybody is buying it. I’m going to buy this option”.

And it just didn’t work. A lot of people, pessimists, tried to do this, and they were overwhelmed by the central banks’ selling.

Most options are not exercised, because central banks keep selling forward again, and again, and again. That is what held down the price of gold for many decades. It kept the price from rising, because future buyers can always buy the other end of a short sale, at a lower price.

The supply and demand wasn’t just in the private market; it wasn’t just among central banks; it was a manipulated market.