European gold-backed ETCs: highest inflows in years

The trend that emerged in the first weeks of January appears to be continuing: while gold holdings managed in Asian ETFs have thus far remained virtually unchanged this year, US gold funds saw more outflows than inflows. Gold holdings managed in US-based ETFs were down 5.9 tonnes. By contrast, net inflows into European gold-backed ETCs increased, with holdings standing at 1,326.7 tonnes at the end of January 2025, up 3 per cent. There has not been an increase of this magnitude since early 2023.

Trading volumes in gold funds and ETCs increased by 23 per cent

Institutional investors are currently also very interested in gold, as apparent  in global gold trading volumes, which are up 20 per cent compared to the same month last year. Gold funds and gold-backed ETCs stood out in particular, as trading volumes in this asset class rose even more sharply, by 23 per cent. European ETCs were responsible for the lion’s share of total global inflows of 34.5 tonnes in January, with net inflows of 39 tonnes, offsetting net outflows in other regions.

UK and German gold-backed ETCs record highest growth globally

While other European countries’ ETC gold holdings have also grown over the course of 2025 to date – for example in France by 4.5 tonnes and Switzerland by 2.8 tonnes – it is primarily British and German gold ETCs which are up 17.9 tonnes and 13.5 tonnes, respectively. Broken down into individual ETCs, the UK iShares Physical Gold ETC led the field with net inflows of 11.6 tonnes, followed by Xetra-Gold from Germany with a 6.7 tonne increase of holdings. Xetra-Gold has thus seen the second-highest net inflows among gold-backed ETFs and ETCs worldwide to date in 2025. By contrast, 2024 had predominantly seen outflows from the German ETC, as the result of numerous profit-takings due to the high euro gold price.