SPDR Gold Shares (also known as SPDR Gold Trust) is part of the

SPDR SPDR funds (pronounced "spider") are a family of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) traded in the United States, Europe, Mexico and Asia-Pacific and managed by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA). Informally, they are also known as Spyders or Spiders. S ...

family of

exchange-traded fund An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund and exchange-traded product, i.e. they are traded on stock exchanges. ETFs are similar in many ways to mutual funds, except that ETFs are bought and sold from other owners throughout the ...

s (ETFs) managed and marketed by State Street Global Advisors. For a few years, the fund was the second-largest exchange-traded fund in the world, and it was briefly the largest. As of the close of 2014, it dropped out of the top ten. This ETF denotes a fixed amount of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from t ...

, unlike many ETFs which represent ownership in a basket of stocks. SPDR Gold Shares are designed to initially track the price of a tenth of a

troy ounce Troy weight is a system of units of mass that originated in 15th-century England, and is primarily used in the precious metals industry. The troy weight units are the grain, the pennyweight (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 pennyweights), and th ...

of gold. If the share price differs from the gold market price, the fund's manager exchanges blocks of 100,000 shares for 10,000 ounces of gold. The possibility of such exchanges keeps the ETF price roughly in line with the gold price, although the prices can diverge during each day. As of March 31, 2019, the trust had 24,572,554.8 ounces of

vaulted gold Vaulted gold denotes gold bullion stored in bank vaults. By acquiring vaulted gold, institutional or private investors obtain outright ownership of physical gold. An investor who buys vaulted gold also acquires physical gold ownership. Vaulted g ...

in its custody, representing an asset value of $31,697,578,486.50. SPDR Gold Shares is one of the top ten largest holders of gold in the world.

History

In November 2004, the fund was listed (under the name streetTRACKS Gold Shares) on the New York Stock Exchange by State Street Global Advisors with

World Gold Council The World Gold Council is the market development organisation for the gold industry. It works across all parts of the industry, from gold mining to investment, with the aim of stimulating and sustaining demand for gold. They frequently publish ...

sponsorship. Since 13 December 2007 and following a name change on 20 May 2008, SPDR Gold Shares has traded on NYSE Arca (). It also trades on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (), Singapore Stock Exchange ( SGX:GLD 10US$), and Tokyo Stock Exchange (). In June 2018, State Street started the Gold MiniShares () Trust with a lower expense ratio of 0.18% and a lower NAV at one-hundredth the price of an ounce of gold.

Competitors

SPDR Gold Shares competes with iShares Gold Trust (). There is also iShares Silver Trust ().

Management

The Trust’s gold bullion is stored as London

Good Delivery The Good Delivery specification is a set of rules issued by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) describing the physical characteristics of gold and silver bars used in settlement in the wholesale London bullion market. It also puts fort ...

gold bar A gold bar, also called gold bullion or gold ingot, is a quantity of refined metallic gold of any shape that is made by a bar producer meeting standard conditions of manufacture, labeling, and record keeping. Larger gold bars that are produced ...

s (400 oz.) and held in their vault in London or by several custodians worldwide. The ETF pays an expense charge of 0.40% per annum.

History

Competitors

Management

See also

References

External links