Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing Bonus Story of the week. Today on Forbes, why the gold stock rally isn't over yet.

Gold had a big year. The yellow metal surged from $2,600 per ounce to start the year to over $4,300 by the end of it for a 65% return.

Gold mining stocks did even better.

The Vanek Gold Miners ETF, $29 billion in assets, rose by 155%.

After moves like that, a reasonable question comes up.

Is it too late to jump on board?

Daniel Oliver says no.

Oliver runs the Mermican Gold Fund, which launched in 2010, and as of a 2023 filing,

managed about $30 million in assets.

Now, Oliver, it should be noted, is a committed gold advocate, not a neutral observer.

But in a research note published last week, he argues that the gold trade is still early.

More importantly, he says the usual problem for gold miners, rising costs that crush margins,

aren't a foregone conclusion.

His argument starts by looking backward.

Gold didn't lead markets during the bubble years.

In 2024, speculative trades dominated returns.

Big tech stocks surged.

Bitcoin soared. Gold rose too, but it lagged riskier assets.

Mining stocks lagged even more. That pattern flipped in 2025. Speculative, so-called

quote, risk-on assets cooled or retraced their prior moves. Gold, on the other hand, moved to the front.

Mining stocks followed. Oliver says that shift matters because gold tends to perform best

when credit is tightening, evidenced by the decline in speculative assets, not expanding.

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