Customers choose gold ornaments at a shop in Shanghai on October 5, 2025, during the National Day holiday. Photo: VCG

Sales of gold-themed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) surged in the first nine months of this year, standing at 79.015 tons, according to the China Gold Association (CGA).

An ETF is a type of fund traded on stock exchanges like shares, typically tracking an index, with lower costs and higher liquidity than mutual funds. 

Domestic gold ETF holdings increased by 29.927 tons, up 164.03 percent year-on-year. As of the end of September, total holdings stood at 193.749 tons, the CGA data showed.

Gold buying by central banks has remained strong. From November 2024 to September 2025, China's central bank increased its gold holdings every month. Meanwhile, during the first nine months of 2025, China expanded its gold holdings by 23.95 tons, raising the nation's total reserves to 2,303.52 tons as of the end of September, according to statistics from the CGA.

For the first time since 1996, foreign central banks' gold reserves overtook their US Treasury holdings in the second quarter of 2025. Since January 2025, gold has rallied almost 50 percent, extending a 10-year advance to roughly 300 percent, CCTV News reported on Monday.
 
Central banks are increasing their gold reserves due to a shift in the global consensus on the safety of reserves, with gold becoming an inevitable choice to mitigate the risks associated with US dollar reserves. Meanwhile, central banks in emerging economies have become major buyers of gold, making it a more reliable reserve option, said the report.

According to the World Gold Council, central banks purchased a net 19 tons in August alone, after adding 10 tons in July. With this, they set the year on track for roughly 900 tons in total. It would mark the fourth consecutive year that global purchases exceed twice the long-term average, according to beincrypto.com.

The steady rise in China's official gold holdings signals two things to global markets: first, that gold is an immovable anchor for the yuan, and second, that China is capable of self-insurance against external financial shocks, whether they come from US Fed rate hikes, dollar shortages or geopolitical tensions, Zhou Yinghao, a senior gold analyst at the Bank of Urumqi, told the Global Times on Monday.

Zhou said that the glittering stockpile enhances the international credibility of the yuan by reducing reliance on US dollar-denominated assets.

Beyond balance-sheet diversification, the gold reserve plays a significant role in bolstering the nation's soft power. It has a distinct role to play in stabilizing China's domestic economy, curbing inflation, and enhancing the currency's international credibility, Zhou noted.

Global Times