The gold market has been absolutely insane lately!
Whether it’s spot gold or COMEX gold futures, prices have skyrocketed like a rocket, both hitting new all-time highs.
Spot gold prices have surged to as high as 2,900 per ounce.
With such a surge in gold prices, the market has been buzzing with excitement. Physical gold, accumulated gold, and various gold-related financial products have become everyone’s favorites.
However, investing in gold cannot be done impulsively; there are many intricacies behind it.
01
If you’ve been paying attention to financial news even a little bit recently, you’d definitely be amazed by the surge in gold prices.
Since last year, gold prices have been on an upward trend, fluctuating but generally rising.
Entering 2025, the momentum has been even stronger, with new all-time highs being broken one after another.
Imagine, with prices rising so steeply, how could ordinary people not be tempted?
Take the examples around us, for instance. Many gold shops have been lined up with people.
A friend of mine went to a gold shop a few days ago to buy a gold necklace. When he got there, the crowd was as big as a marketplace. Everyone seemed to be in a rush, selecting their favorite styles and paying immediately.
My friend told me that some popular styles were gone if you hesitated for even a moment. And that was just the bustling scene of physical gold. In the financial market, gold-related financial products have also been warmly received.
Major banks and wealth management subsidiaries have seized this opportunity, actively promoting their gold-related financial products.
Some banks have launched accumulated gold services, allowing investors to regularly purchase a certain amount of gold, just like a regular savings deposit, gradually accumulating wealth.
Other banks and wealth management subsidiaries have issued various gold-related financial products, attracting the attention of many investors.
The popularity of these financial products is due to several reasons. Firstly, gold itself has the attributes of preserving and increasing value, and is considered a “safe haven” during economic uncertainties. Secondly, with the continuous rise in gold prices, investors hope to share in the profits and earn some returns.
02
There is a wide variety of gold-related financial products on the market, making it dizzying to choose from.
But broadly speaking, they can be divided into two categories. One is the “fixed income + gold” type of financial products, which mainly invest in bond assets and offer relatively stable returns, like a layer of “insurance” for your investment.
At the same time, they also allocate a certain proportion of gold assets, allowing investors to enjoy the stable returns of bonds while also benefiting from the rise in gold prices, earning additional returns.
The other category is structured financial products linked to gold, which are more complex. They mainly invest in gold-related derivatives, and their returns are closely related to fluctuations in gold prices.
If the movement of gold prices meets expectations, investors can obtain higher returns. However, if the judgment is wrong, they may also face losses.
Despite the high enthusiasm for gold-related financial products in the market, institutions have been relatively cautious in their deployments.
From the data perspective, the growth in the number of gold-related financial products issued is not significant.
Recently, for instance, wealth management companies have been relatively restrained in issuing gold-related products. Even during the subscription period, some products have only increased the upper limit of the issuance scale, rather than significantly increasing the number of issues.
Why is this the case?
Actually, institutions have their own considerations.
On the one hand, the process from product establishment to market launch is relatively long, and it also overlaps with the Spring Festival holiday, which affects the speed of product launch.
On the other hand, the risks in the gold market cannot be ignored, with significant price fluctuations and high uncertainty. To ensure the robustness of their products, institutions need more time to assess and control risks.
