Can gold love a coronavirus crisis?

To drive prices higher, investors will have to compensate for demand loss elsewhere.

So far, they have, raising their stockpile in exchange-traded funds by more than 400 tonnes this year to above 3,300 tonnes – a record amount worth some $180 billion.

"The demand for a hedge (against risk) will outstrip everything else," said Peter Grosskopf, CEO of asset managers Sprott, which runs a gold-backed ETF. "There are enough people that are scared."

Most analysts still doubt gold prices will skyrocket.

Even Bank of America, with its $3,000 an ounce target, thinks prices will average $2,063 in 2021 before slipping back below $2,000 in subsequent years.