Key gold market statistics

12 February, 2019

Gold returns are competitive compared to major financial assets

Performance metrics for major global financial assets in US$*

* 1-year and 10-year returns based on data ending 31 December 2018.

**BarCap US Credit includes both government and high grade corporate bonds.

Source: Bloomberg; World Gold Council

Gold was correlated to high-quality bonds in 2018

Weekly return correlation on key assets and gold in US$*

* Year-to-date (YTD) and 10-year correlations based on weekly returns ending 31 December 2018.

** BarCap US Credit includes both sovereign and corporate bonds.

Source: Bloomberg; World Gold Council

Gold performance should be measured in more than one currency

Annual gold returns in various currencies*

* Based on the LBMA Gold Price PM except for the Long US$ Gold Index that is based on the Solactive GLD® Long US$ Gold Index. The Index combines a long position in physical gold with a long position in a basket of currencies that include EUR (57.6%), JPY (13.6%), GBP (11.9%), CAD (9.1%), SEK (4.2%) and CHF (3.6%). For more details see: https://www.solactive.com/complex-indexing/?index=DE000SLA2K90.

** Year-to-date as of 31 December 2018.

Source: Bloomberg; ICE Benchmark Administration; Solactive AG; World Gold Council

Gold trades more than many other major financial assets

Average daily trading volumes in US$*

Based on estimated 1-year average trading volumes as of 31 December 2018, except for currencies that correspond to 2016 volumes due to data availability.

** Gold liquidity includes estimates on over-the-counter (OTC) transactions, and published statistics on futures exchanges, and gold-backed exchange-traded products.

Source: BIS; Bloomberg; German Finance Agency; Japan Securities DealersAssociation; LBMA; UK Debt Management Office (DMO); World Gold Council

Financial gold accounts for more than a third of aboveground gold stocks

Market size (in tonnes and US$ value) for various gold sectors*

* Estimated tonnage as 31 December 2018. US-dollar values calculated using YTD 2018 average LBMA Gold price of US$1,269/oz. Financial gold is defined as the sum of official sector holdings, bars and coins, and ETPs** (74,507 tonnes, US$3tn, 39%).

**ETPs include gold-backed exchange traded funds (ETFs) and similar products.

Source: Bloomberg; Refinitiv GFMS, Thomson Reuters; ICE Benchmark Administration; Respective ETP Providers; World Gold Council

The size of financial physical gold is larger than many stock and bond markets

Market size of major global financial assets in US$*

* As of 31 December 2018 where available, otherwise most recent data published.

** Includes bars, coins, gold-backed exchange-traded products and official sector holdings.

Source: BIS; Bloomberg; Refinitiv GFMS, Thomson Reuters; ICE Benchmark Administration; World Gold Council

Important disclaimers and disclosures [+]Important disclaimers and disclosures [-]