"How much is gold per ounce?" is difficult question to answer, because the answer changes contantly from moment to moment. As of right now, as I'm writing this, the price of gold per ounce is USD 929.40. But the past thirty days have seen a range of gold prices, from a high of $993.20 per oz. to a low of $897.30 per ounce. That's a difference of around 10%, in just one month.

Why is the price of gold so volatile? Well the price of gold depends on supply and demand. When people like you and me buy jewelry or other gold items, or invest in gold bullion and coins, demand increases and the price goes up. When we see that the prices are very high and lots of us decide to sell at once, demand decreases and the price goes down. Of course, not only personal purchases, but also industrial demand for gold plays a role in this demand.

One of the main things driving the demand for gold at the moment is the instability in the US economy and the global economy in general. Often you'll see that seemingly good economic news brings a drop in the gold price, while bad news bring an increase in the gold price. Why? Because gold is seen as a safe-haven for your wealth. Regular paper currencies can lose their value and your buying power can decrease. In extreme cases, fiat currencies (as these paper currencies are called) can lose virutally all of their value.

Perhaps the most famous example of this was Weimar Germany in the 1920s, when the currency inflated so much that prices doubled every day. One of the most well-known memories of that time is that people were using wheelbarrels full of banknotes in place of firewood, because the paper money was worth even less than the wood. There is no reason to expect that our current economic situation will be nearly as bad as that, but in times of instability investors usually move part of their money into gold to be prepared for a worst case scenario.

If the current problems end soon, then we will most likely see gold prices drop. If the problems continue for a couple more years as I expect they will, then the price of gold will continue to rise. The reason I believe that the price of gold per ounce will continue to risein the future is because government deficit spending around the world continues, devaluing their currencies over time. If you hold fiat currencies, your wealth will diminish. If you hold gold, your wealth will be preserved.