Gold Coins Attract New Buyers With Falling Prices

Gold coins are getting a new look from hobbyists and collectors as professional investors continue to abandon gold exchange-traded funds (ETF). In April, the price of gold went into freefall, while the stock market continued to soar — a situation that caused both institutional and individual investors to abandon ETFs in droves.

In April, the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust, reported a record sell-off. SPDR shed 143 tonnes of gold — a $6.6 billion value based on Wednesday’s gold prices — for its biggest monthly drop since the fund’s launch. It still holds over 1,000 tonnes.

As The Inquisitr reported in mid-April, gold prices shed $225 an ounce between April 12 and April 16.

As gold gets uglier for investors, the price of gold coins naturally gets a lot more attractive. Result? Despite the glittering metal’s underperformance in the portfolio, people are literally lining up to buy the coins.

When gold reached its lowest price of under $1,400 an ounce on April 16, it set off a buying frenzy.

When you look at the number of coins sold, instead of the dollar value, the US Mint had a great April, enjoying the highest number of gold coin sales since December 2009. The Mint sold a cool 209,500 ounces of gold coins in April — forcing them to suspend sales of the one-tenth of an ounce coin altogether on April 23.

All told, the sale of American Eagle gold coins has jumped by a startling ten times over last year’s April sales.

And the rest of the world went gold coin crazy too.

One line of gold coin buyers in Australia was measured at half a kilometer long down the street. Some sellers in India and China reportedly sold out of their gold coins in only one day.

Have you taken advantage of the friendlier prices to buy more gold coins?

[gold coins photo by Kao via Shutterstock]