SPDR Gold Shares
SPDR Gold Trust is a U.S.-domiciled investment trust that holds allocated gold bullion and issues shares backed by that gold. Its shares are designed to give investors exposure to the price of gold without taking physical delivery of bars, with custody arranged through London and New York vaults.
Fiscal year 2025 · change from previous year
Development 2020–2025
Business
Share of revenueExchange-traded shares representing beneficial interest in allocated gold held by the Trust.
Customers
The Trust serves investors seeking direct exposure to gold price movements through a listed security rather than owning bullion outright. Its shareholders include institutions and individuals that use gold as a portfolio diversifier, inflation hedge, or liquidity vehicle. Authorized Participants create and redeem baskets by delivering or receiving gold, which supports the market structure for the shares.
Buy shares for portfolio diversification, macro hedging, and gold exposure.
Buy listed shares for convenient access to gold without storage or custody.
Use the trust as a liquid building block in commodity and alternatives portfolios.
Create and redeem baskets by exchanging shares for gold and vice versa.
Strategy
The Trust’s operating objective is to keep share performance closely aligned with the spot price of gold bullion, net of expenses. It does this by maintaining fully allocated gold holdings, using basket creations/redemptions, and minimizing non-gold assets and cash balances. The structure depends on accepted bullion-market standards and on custodial and authorized-participant arrangements that keep the share mechanism functioning smoothly.
The core value proposition is direct, liquid exposure to bullion returns.
Basket activity keeps shares aligned with underlying gold value and market liquidity.
The trust depends on bullion-market standards and approved counterparties for operations.
Geography
The Trust is U.S.-domiciled, but its gold custody and operational infrastructure is centered in London and New York. Gold is held by HSBC and JPMorgan vaults, and the Trust’s pricing and valuation reference the LBMA Gold Price PM, which ties the business to London bullion-market standards. Geographic exposure is therefore less about customer sales by country and more about where bullion is stored, cleared, and valued.
Risks
The main business risk is gold-price volatility, which directly drives the value of the shares and can create large swings in investor returns. The Trust also depends on LBMA Good Delivery standards, custodian arrangements, and authorized participants; if market standards or counterparties change, creations, redemptions, or custody operations could be disrupted. Because the Trust is structured around a single commodity and a narrow operating model, operational or market-structure issues can quickly affect liquidity and pricing.
- Gold price volatilityImpact: HighLikelihood: High
The Trust is designed to track bullion prices, so share value moves with the underlying commodity.
Exposure: Share price and NAV
- LBMA Good Delivery rule changesImpact: HighLikelihood: Medium
The Trust relies on accepted bullion standards for custody, transfer, and valuation.
Exposure: Operations and redemptions
- Custodian and authorized participant dependenceImpact: HighLikelihood: Medium
Creations and redemptions depend on a small set of counterparties and vault arrangements.
Exposure: Liquidity and trade execution
- Premium/discount to NAVImpact: MediumLikelihood: Medium
Market trading of the shares can diverge from the value of the gold backing them.
Exposure: Secondary market pricing
Accounting
Judgemental itemsNAV is calculated from bullion valued at the LBMA Gold Price PM, so pricing methodology is central.
Impact: Directly affects NAV per share and reported asset value
The Trust sells exact amounts of gold to pay fees and expenses rather than holding operating cash.
Impact: Changes gold holdings and can affect period-to-period comparability
Shares and bullion are exchanged through basket transactions that may not line up perfectly with reporting dates.
Impact: Can alter shares outstanding and bullion balances at period end
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Last updated: 28/09/2026