Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) investments in gold, which are currently up 12.2 percent year-to-date and on track to make a twelth positive annual return in a row, continued last week with investors increasing their holdings to a new record, according to data from Bloomberg.
Since the price reached a peak on October 4 and subsequently corrected by more than 100 dollars ETF investors remained undeterred and added some 30 metric tonnes during the time of falling prices. This is in sharp contrast to leveraged investors such as hedge funds which, during the same period, scaled back their net long positioning by one-quarter or 175 metric tonnes.
Turning to silver the same scenario during the recent correction has been witnessed with resilliant ETF investors holding on to their exposure while leverage investors scaled back. Since the price of silver peaked on October 4 ETF investors added 15 metric tonnes while speculators in futures cut their net long exposure by more than 1,000 metric tonnes or 15 percent, still much less than the 25 percent reduction that hit gold.