Global exchange-traded funds backed by physical gold increased their holdings by about 121.2 tonnes in August 2026, with net capital inflows reaching $17.9-18 billion, according to a World Gold Council (WGC) report published on September 9, 2026. This is the second largest monthly inflow of funds into gold ETFs in monetary terms in the entire history of observations.
At the end of August, the total gold holdings of ETFs reached a record 4,189.2 tons, and the value of assets under management was about $615.3 billion. In just one month, AUM increased by about 16%, which was simultaneously supported by the purchase of the metal and the increase in its value.
August was one of the strongest months and directly for gold: according to the calculations of the WGC, the price of the metal increased by 13.3% and ended the month at the level of about $4,563 per ounce. This is gold's third largest monthly gain in 25 years. The WGC attributes this growth primarily to large-scale investment in ETFs, the growth of long positions in the futures market and the weakening of the dollar.
It is important to clarify that in the ETF statistics, "buyers by country" are not governments or central banks, but investors who invest in gold funds, registered or traded in the relevant jurisdictions.
By region. the August ranking is as follows:
Place Region Inflow of funds Growth of gold reserves
1 Europe $7.9 billion about 54 t
2 North America $7.7-7.8 billion about 53 t
3 Asia $2.0 billion about 13 t
4 Other regions $234 million about 1 t
Thus, Europe and North America provided about 107 tons of 121 tons of total gain, or almost 90% of the August purchases of gold ETFs. For Europe, it was the largest monthly inflow in the entire history of observations, for North America it was the third largest.
Among individual countries, the absolute European leader was Great Britain, where funds attracted $4.4 billion - the second largest monthly result in the history of the British gold ETF market. Great Britain accounted for more than half of all European inflows.
France came in second place among European countries with $1.5 billion, which is a record monthly inflow for the French market. At the same time, the WGC draws attention to the fact that only one French ETF backed by physical gold is taken into account in its base.
From the graph published by the WGC, it follows that significant positive flows also fell on Germany and Switzerland. The open text commentary did not provide exact amounts for these two countries, but all major European markets were generally buyers in August.
In Asia, China became the main buyer. The WGC does not provide the exact August total for Chinese ETFs in the open-text version of the report, but notes that China provided the bulk of regional inflows of $2 billion. By mid-August, Chinese funds had managed to buy about 8 tonnes of gold, with inflows recorded almost every trading day.
India and Japan also ended August with positive flows. For India, the trend was visible already in the first half of the month: in the first two weeks alone, local gold ETFs received about $124 million in net inflows. In July, Indian ETFs attracted $163 million and increased reserves by about 1 ton to 120 tons.
For Japan, August turned out to be a turning point: back in July, Japanese funds reduced positions due to rising local bond yields, but in August they switched to net purchases again.
Outside the three main regions, Australia stood out in particular - $190 million net inflow, while all markets in this category together attracted $234 million. That is, Australia provided more than 80% of the corresponding regional result.
If we rank the main buyers by those countries for which the WGC publicly discloses or directly characterizes the August flows, the picture looks like this:
Great Britain - $4.4 billion
China is the largest buyer in Asia, exact final amount not disclosed in open comment
France - $1.5 billion
Germany - significant net inflow
Switzerland - significant net inflow
Australia - $190 million
India - net inflow
Japan is a net inflow
The USA is not singled out separately in the open comment of the WGC: the organization cites the figure for North America as a whole — $7.7-7.8 billion and about 53 tons, although it is American funds that traditionally make up the majority of this market. Therefore, it would be incorrect to credit all $7.8 billion directly to the US without complete WGC data.
With the "seller rating", the situation in August is fundamentally different. All four world regions were net buyers of gold, and the WGC does not name any country as a large net seller in the public version of its August report. The European chart is also dominated by positive flows. Therefore, it is impossible to make a correct rating of selling countries for August based on the open part of the report — sales of individual ETFs took place, but at the level of most large national markets they were covered by purchases.
This is a serious difference from previous months. For example, in June, global ETFs, on the contrary, withdrew $8.9 billion, with all major regions acting as sellers. Asia lost $1.2 billion in May, with China the main source of Asian outflows.
Since the beginning of 2026, the situation is also interesting: global gold ETFs have received approximately $29 billion in net inflows, and their holdings have increased by 160 tons. Asia remains the main source of inflow for eight months, followed by Europe. After strong purchases in August, North America has returned to a small positive cash flow since the beginning of the year, although in natural terms the region remains the only one with a negative result due to the large-scale sell-off in March.
The WGC attributes the August surge to several factors at once: concerns about the sustainability of public finances in the largest economies, rising sovereign debt yields, intervention by the US and Japanese authorities in currency and debt. markets, the weakening of the dollar and, finally, the effect of price momentum - the rise in gold prices just began to attract new funds to ETFs.
As a result, August 2026 actually marked the return of Western institutional investors to the gold market: even in the first half of the year, the main source of demand was Asian funds, while in August Europe and North America were almost equal in terms of volumes purchases.
Primary source: World Gold Council — Gold ETF Flows: August 2026, 9 September 2026
