For Prakas, a Nepali Australian, buying gold on a Saturday during Diwali is a cherished yearly ritual. But keeping the tradition alive this year turned out to be difficult for him as thousands of gold-hungry Australians queue for hours in Sydney to buy gold

Prakas had driven an hour into Sydney’s central business district on Oct. 18, only to find a queue of about 400 people winding around the ABC Bullion store on Martin Place. He gave up and headed home.

He then returned on a few days later after trying to order online, but even that shortcut led him to a two-hour line of online pre-purchasers.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he told The Guardian.

Spot gold hit an all-time peak of US$4,381.21 on Oct. 20 before dropping to around $3,965 per ounce on Tuesday.

Gold, a traditional hedge during times of uncertainty and a non-yielding asset, has gained more than 51% this year, bolstered by ongoing geopolitical and trade tensions, as well as expected U.S. interest rate cuts, according to Reuters.

News.com.au reported that the same store in Martin Place was also overflowing with customers earlier this month, as retirees and families crowded around the entrance hoping to make a purchase. The queue lasted through the day.

The outlet’s general manager, Jordan Eliseo, said roughly 1,000 customers have visited the store each day for more than a month, with thousands more opting to buy online.

Buyers travel in from across the city, some arriving before 9 a.m. to secure a spot in line, others waiting for hours just to make a purchase. To handle the rush, Eliseo has extended trading hours and added five new staff members in the past two weeks.

“That’s the first time that we’ve seen this sustained [an] uptick in demand,” he said. “It’s a bit of a gold rush.”

Yet as crowds rush to secure their share of gold, experts are sounding alarms about the gold market.

Shane Oliver, chief economist at financial services firm AMP, has cautioned since early this month that the long lines could be a warning sign that the market is turning speculative and at risk of a correction.

“The risk of a pullback is rising,” he said.

And a pullback did come on Oct. 22 as gold prices tumbled 6.8% to $4,082.35 per ounce, the sharpest single-day drop in 12 years. Although the metal recovered slightly later in the week, it still ended lower, breaking a historic nine-week rally.

Ray Attrill, National Australia Bank’s head of FX strategy, told 9News that the sharp fall fits a familiar pattern.

“There’s a classic market adage that goes something like ‘when financial news moves from the business pages to the front page, the top is near,’” he said.

“Given the parabolic nature of the run up since September and the knowledge that much of the latest buying spree has been from retail or other private sector investors via ETFs, a dash for the profits window was inevitable at some point soon, temporary or otherwise.”