The direct investment consists in purchasing physical gold in the form of bars, gold coins (I mean gold and silver, not jewellery with a blend of other bullion).
Paper market for precious metals
In the context of the thread under discussion, it is essential to address the problem of the gold and silver paper market.
The growth of investment options on the paper metal market (gold and silver certificates, futures contracts and options for precious metals, ETFs, investment and custodian funds, structured products) has brought new dynamics both in trading and in the investment area, and investment derivatives have also provided financial institutions with ample opportunities for potential short-term harassment and price manipulation.
Today, today, most of the gold and silver paper market is based on trading in COMEX listed futures contracts and on the equally popular ETF funds (the shares of the ETF fund, which complements metals in their physical form with an independent depositary).
Furthermore, it is doubtful that the ETF should reflect the real value of gold or silver, as fund prospectuses are burdened with exhaustive and unclear legal terminology and gaps.