Gold Exchange Traded Funds

The Gold Exchange Traded Funds is a financial instrument that operates like any other mutual fund. It is a new investment vehicle. The value of Gold Exchange Traded Fund is determined by the price of gold in the market. The unit measure of gold in a gram. When the price of gold goes up so does the value of the fund. The same is true when the value of gold falls in the market. The Gold Traded Exchange Funds did not the approval to operate initially but operate only in major stock exchanges. The first one was launched in Australia in 2003. The difference of the Gold Exchange Traded Funds with other mutual funds is that in the ETFs as they are called, the commodity in the exchange is gold. To be able to trade in the ETF one must have a dematerialized account and another account with the stock brokers. The buying of units of gold has to be done manually through a stock brokers and the proceeds be deposited in the dematerialized account. The features of any ETF are outlined in the particular company’s prospectus.

The Gold Exchange Traded Funds allow the investors to trade in gold without necessarily having to take delivery of gold. The ETF usually tracks the price of gold at given time. The reasons for trading in Gold Exchange Traded Funds are many and notable one is that there is no room for manipulation of records or market value of gold. The gold being the commodity traded on is globally accepted asset. Besides, gold is not affect by other economic factors like the inflation. The way gold is being held in the ETF is extremely liquid and can be converted to cash any moment. The value such gold is usually held electronically.

The advantages are many as well. They range from those of security issues to those of taxation. Gold is not physically stored by the investors so there no issue of security and storage to worry about. Gold can also be dealt with easily through dematerialized accounts and the pricing is done so transparently. Gold is easily traded on in stock exchange.

The major drawback in dealing with the Gold Exchange Traded Fund is that an investor who would like to store gold will never do so because in ETF gold is never held physically. The other one is that the ETF could have tax benefit but is dependent on the location. The tax benefits differ from location to location. If an investor is keen on investing in Gold Exchange Traded Funds, there are so many to choose from but one needs to study the trends of popular funds in order to make informed decisions.