Comparative Performance of Neural Network Architectures in Gold Price Prediction: a Study of GRU, N-BEATS, LSTM and Hybrid Models

Abstract

This study assesses the efficacy of a variety of neural network models in predicting gold prices, with a particular emphasis on GRU, N-BEATS, N-BEATS-GRU, N-BEATS-LSTM, and LSTM. We evaluated the models using a comprehensive dataset and metrics such as MSE, MAE, MAPE, and RMSE. The GRU model demonstrated the highest MAPE of 3.10%, as indicated by the results. N-BEATS was the second-best-performing model. In stark contrast to expectations, hybrid models, notably N-BEATS-LSTM, underperformed. Compared to LSTM-based models, visual analysis demonstrated that GRU and N-BEATS more effectively captured short-term and long-term trends. The results indicate that simplified models, such as GRU, may be more effective than complex hybrids in predicting gold prices.