Gold certainly knows how to make an entrance.

The yellow metal has smashed through records so far in 2026, topping a record $5,300 an ounce for the first time Wednesday. The move caps an eye-popping run, with gold up roughly 17% so far in 2026, after a 64% surge in 2025. And gold ETFs also increased sharply this month with the largest and oldest fund, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), bringing in $370 million, with inflows almost every day, according to J.P. Morgan. For financial advisors, the rally is more than a shiny headline. Precious metals generally thrive as a safe haven when investors are worried about the strength of the market, geopolitical risks or macro instability. So, how are advisors handling client portfolios amid a historic bull gold-market run?

“Gold is certainly top of mind for a lot of clients right now,” said Andrew Fincher, a CFP and advisor with VLP Financial. “We do think there is some staying power as far as a gold position in a diversified portfolio.”

Goldilocks Zone

At the heart of gold’s rally are rising geopolitical uncertainty and US government policy risks, which means investors are just rattled enough to reach for something that’s tangible and worth a lot of money. Gold has also historically been a strong diversifier because it often moves in the opposite direction of equity markets and currency exchanges. Right on cue, gold is hitting record highs as the US dollar is hitting multi-year lows. Wall Street is taking notice, according to a recent Reuters report:

• Several major banks have raised their gold price targets, with Goldman Sachs predicting bullion will reach $5,400 an ounce by the end of 2026.
• The London Bullion Market Association’s forecast has gold skyrocketing to $7,150 with an average price per ounce of $4,742 this year.

“The combination of rising gold prices, a weakening dollar, and equity markets near record highs tells us investors are not expressing confidence in the use of the US dollar as a reserve asset,” Catalyst Funds Chief Investment Officer David Miller said in an emailed statement. “Persistent inflation, record fiscal deficits, and geopolitical uncertainty are pushing investors to own real assets as insurance.”

Golden Eye. Despite the allure, advisors caution against getting carried away by the gold rush. Fincher recommends taking a more measured approach. For example, if equity markets drop significantly, advisors should consider paring some positions in gold and reinvesting into equities at an attractive price point. But gold buyers beware, the markets have had the higher upside over the long term, Fincher said. “We view gold as an opportunity to mitigate risk and allow for rebalancing opportunities.”

Better late than never.

UBS will reportedly allow certain clients to trade bitcoin and Ether in the near future, although the banking behemoth is still determining how the program will be rolled out, according to a Bloomberg report last week. The Zurich-based firm would join the likes of JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, which have both opened up access to crypto for clients in recent years. The move also signals the bank’s willingness to continue building on its tokenization programs.

“We have seen that more brokerage firms in the US are opening up crypto access,” said Aniket Ullal, head of ETF research and analytics at CFRA. “It doesn’t surprise me.”

Swiss ETF Knife

The UBS program could begin with clients of its Switzerland bank before expanding into the Asia-Pacific region and the US, per Bloomberg. The move marks a divergence from UBS’s digital assets initiative, which has previously focused on a tokenized money market fund on the Ethereum blockchain and a blockchain-based payment system. “We have seen wealth and brokerage firms being more open to making [crypto] available to the investors in their platform,” Ullal said. “It’s keeping with a broader trend.”

Other firms have also joined the crypto fray. They include:

• Vanguard, which recently announced that it would allow crypto exchange-traded fund access for some of its investors.
• Bank of America, which earlier this month said that it will give institutional clients access to bitcoin.
• JPMorgan, which became the first major banking institution to offer its retail clients access to bitcoin in 2021 and launched its own digital currency, JPM Coin, in 2019.

Demand and Supply. A UBS spokesperson told Advisor Upside that “[a]s part of UBS’s digital asset strategy, we actively monitor ⁠developments and explore initiatives that reflect client needs, regulatory developments, ‍market trends and robust risk controls.” Some 92% of investors now want access to digital assets beyond bitcoin and Ethereum, according to a recent survey.

“A lot of interest in bitcoin and crypto in general is driven by prices. People are attracted to it because you have potentials for return,” Roxanna Islam, head of sector and industry research at VettaFi, told Advisor Upside. “We’ll start seeing a little bit more comfort easing into some of these newer products as the beginning of the year goes by.”

You go over there, and you come over here.

Two of Wall Street’s heavy hitters have done a bit of reorganizing in their wealth and asset management units. Goldman Sachs added seven leaders from its wealth and asset business to the company’s management committee, the firm’s top decision-making panel, according to a statement. Meanwhile, BNY announced earlier this week that it would promote multiple executives to accelerate growth in its wealth unit.

The moves elevate the wealth and asset management business in both companies, which we’d have to say, were already pretty important to start with.

Stay Goldman, Pony Boy

With the promotions, Goldman Sachs will create a 46-member committee, which is responsible for guiding the firm on strategy, management and oversight. Goldman has made multiple attempts to appeal to retail and mass affluent investors through things like the Apple Card, the Marcus robo-advisor and its 2019 acquisition of United Capital, but its sweet spot remains with the ultra-wealthy. Goldman’s wealth clients held more than $1.9 trillion in assets, according to the firm’s latest annual report.

“The opportunity to continue to grow our franchise … is a core strategic objective for the firm, and this group of leaders will help us advance our goals,” CEO David Solomon said in a statement. Some of the new committee members from the wealth and asset unit include John Mallory and Nishi Somaiya, who have also been named global co-heads of wealth management.

Bank of New York. Over on Greenwich Street, BNY is making similar moves. Adam Vos, currently global head of markets and a member of BNY’s executive committee, will become head of global wealth solutions, overseeing Wove — a wealth management platform for advisors — as well as the Archer platform for separately managed accounts. Jim Crowley will become executive vice chair, focusing on strengthening and expanding client relationships. Laide Majiyagbe will become global head of markets and also join the executive committee.

“As the wealth landscape continues to expand and evolve, it’s important that our leadership and structure evolve alongside our clients,” BNY CEO Robin Vince said in a statement.