Last Friday, the State Street SPDR Gold ETF (NYSE: GLD) saw a $2.2 billion inflow, the largest in the 21 year history of the ETF.
In fact, all three of the largest inflows occurred in 2025.
Since you’re a Golden Opportunity reader, you probably already know how I feel about gold ETFs in general and GLD in particular. I think if you want the upside of gold ownership, you should own physical gold. If you want to give yourself a chance to profit from gold above and beyond the price movement of the metal, you should own the best gold stocks.
That’s why I’ve put together three different gold portfolios – to give you different looks at real gold stock investing.
But GLD is neither. It doesn’t give you real gold ownership and it doesn’t have any profitability above and beyond moves in gold’s price.
But it is a good gauge for investor sentiment. And a massive inflow last week is instructive – especially given what we know about the kinds of investors who are buying GLD.
According to data from Marketbeat, net institutional investors buying amounted to about $17 billion over the past 12 months.
Right now, about 40% of GLD is held by institutions.
Why is this trend of institutional buying important to note?
Because we know that the general investment public tends to lag behind.
Like central banks, these large institutions have been adding gold to their holdings for a while – and have been ramping up buying in the past year.
We still haven’t really seen a massive run-up in gold ownership overall – compared to long term average ownership. In particular, we haven’t seen it from individual investors. GLD is arguably the most popular gold vehicle, and this kind of record breaking inflow might be signaling the next stage of the gold bull: when the individual investor starts to get serious about gold.
Remember the investor sentiment cycle:
I’d put this current bull market somewhere between hope and optimism. The average investor really needs to be validated by massive gains to jump into a trend, let alone to push it to euphoric levels.
But we’re still early.
I know it seems absurd to suggest we’re still early while my portfolios are all up 100% for 2025. But it’s true: the bulk of the stocks I’m covering are undervalued. And that’s not unusual. It’s just what early bull markets look like: still plenty of value despite a rise from previous lows.
I know: you’re probably looking at your gold positions and thinking: “I should have put more money into some of these a while ago.”
But I think if you wait for some big obvious signal, you’ll be saying the same thing a year from now. “I wish I had bought more of XYZ gold position back in September, 2025.”
In 2025 alone, I’ve had a slew of my favorite stocks acquired by larger gold firms. That’s what happens at this stage: companies buy the best value they can. But I still have some amazing, deep value plays in my portfolios.
It’s not too late. Not yet.
Best,
Garrett Goggin, CFA
Chief Analyst & Founder, Golden Portfolio
P.S.
My one goal is to simplify what’s happening in the world of finance to make it obvious for you why all roads now lead to gold. From Central Bank buying to out-of-control spending in Washington… The “signs” are everywhere that gold is coming back into the monetary system in a big way.