The WGC published her Gold Demand Trends Q3 Report on October 30, clearly demonstrating that investor demand for gold is exploding as economic and geopolitical uncertainty continues to plague the markets.
During the third quarter of this year, the gold price rose by 16 percent, reaching new record highs thirteen times. The WGC estimates an average quarterly price of $3,456.54 per ounce, which is 5 percent from the previous quarter and 40 percent higher than the average in the third quarter of 2024.
Overall, gold demand rose 3 percent in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the same quarter last year, with the value of that demand rising 44 percent year-on-year to a record $146 billion. This is despite demand for the yellow metal from the jewelry and technology segments falling 23 percent and 2 percent respectively compared to last year’s third quarter figures.
Investors are betting on gold as a hedge against stagflation
Much of the growth in gold demand in 2025 will be driven in large part by the investment segment, which has reached 1,556 tonnes so far this year. That is just 6 percent of the record reached in the first three quarters of 2020. In terms of dollar value, investors purchased $161 billion worth of gold investments in the first three quarters of the year.
Investor sentiment is increasingly trending towards a growing fear of stagflation.
Speaking to the Investing News Network about the third quarter report, Joe Cavatoni, WGC’s senior market strategist for the Americas, noted that during periods of stagflation there are rising costs, a loss of purchasing power due to a weakening dollar and no economic growth. This is what gives gold a strong position as a safe haven or as a conservation asset.
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy also creates a favorable environment for gold.
“The cut in interest rates again reduces the opportunity cost of holding gold in a portfolio,” he added. “So you’re looking at factors that are lining up for the preservation of value and purchasing power versus fiat money and slow economic growth.”
That’s why investors are adding gold bars and coins to their portfolios at a record pace in 2025, accounting for more than half of total demand, up from a third last year. In response, WGC has revised upward their gold investment demand forecast for 2025.
Gold ETFs post strongest third quarter since 2020
Total investment demand for gold in the third quarter of 2025 was 537.2 tons, an increase of 13 percent compared to the second quarter of 2025 and 47 percent compared to the third quarter of the previous year.
Gold ETFs are the biggest driver in the investment demand segment in terms of profits, after attracting a lot of attention from investors in 2025. The third quarter was emblematic of this trend, with demand for gold ETFs totaling 222 tonnes. That’s a 30 percent increase from the second quarter and a gain of as much as 134 percent from the third quarter of 2024. In terms of value, the quarter saw a record inflow of $24 billion into gold ETFs.
Cavatoni attributed the rapid growth in demand for ETFs to the realization among Western investors that risk and uncertainty now dominate stock markets. He added that the WGC certainly sees this trend continuing to drive demand for gold ETFs.
Year-to-date, gold ETF inflows amounted to 619 tons, worth $64 billion. Regionally, the three largest markets for gold ETFs so far this year have been North America (346 tonnes), followed by Europe (148 tonnes) and Asia (118 tonnes).
Despite higher prices for the precious metal, gold ETF inflows are still rising in the last quarter of the year. And according to the WGC report, “historical analysis suggests that gold ETFs still have room to grow.”
The demand for gold bars and coins remains high
Fear of missing out, or FOMO, has driven investors to continue buying gold bars and coins even as prices for the metal skyrocketed in September, according to the WGC. Therefore, the third quarter of 2025, with 315.5 tonnes of gold purchases, represents the fourth consecutive quarter that this segment of the market has seen demand levels above 300 tonnes.
“This tells us that they see the use case for gold. When they look at risk in their portfolio and look at diversification,” Cavatoni told INN. ‘I think you actually see people who are very comfortable putting large amounts of money to work. So I think it really speaks volumes about the fact that the market has a lot more wiggle room, and the sentiment tells us that people are not scared of these prices.
All told, demand for gold bars and coins in the third quarter of 2025 was up 3 percent compared to the second quarter of 2025 and 17 percent compared to the third quarter of 2024.
Regionally, India was the bright spot, accounting for 91.6 tons of purchases of gold bars and coins in the third quarter, with a record value of more than $10 billion. India’s appetite for gold bars and coins even surpassed that of China, for which the WGC reported 73.7 tonnes, a 19 percent increase from the previous quarter.
The WGC attributed some of the increased demand to “jewelry consumers moving to lower-margin pure investment products.” This is a phenomenon unique to Asia, where gold jewelry is traditionally a form of savings, wealth preservation and used for dowries.
On the other hand, the United States (7.2 tonnes) was the only regional market to experience a year-on-year decline (64 percent) in demand for gold bars and coins. However, Cavatoni was quick to point out that there was a lot of buying and profit-taking selling in this area in the third quarter. Buying accelerated in September following news that gold bars would be exempt from Trump tariffs, and that trend has continued into October, leading the WGC to predict a stronger fourth quarter.
‘I guess [Q4 is] I am going to tell us a different story, which is that most of the demand for bars and coins in Western markets, especially in the US, will see a shift towards net buying,” Cavatoni explains.
Central banks remain net buyers of gold
In the first nine months of the year, central banks bought 633 tons of gold, compared to the 724 tons added in the same period in 2024.
Although the pace has slowed in recent quarters, central bank purchases remain a key theme in gold demand. For the third quarter of 2025, central bank inflows grew by 28 percent compared to the previous quarter, reaching 220 tons.
The central banks of Poland, China, Turkey, Kazakhstan and India remain the main buyers of gold. Interestingly, during the quarter we also saw some participants enter the room who had been on the sidelines until now. This also applies to the Central Bank of Brazil (15 tons), which had not made any gold purchases since July 2021.
Cavatoni notes that central banks are still signaling their eagerness to strategically expand their gold reserves, despite record gold prices. “There are trade tensions, geopolitical tensions. There are fears and questions about the US’s desired outcome in terms of sanctions and control,” he explained.
“There is also a dependence on the dollar and the euro annual surveycentral banks continue to tell us that this dependency will decrease over the next five years.”
In particular, he emphasized that emerging market central banks are looking for viable alternatives to dollar-based assets to diversify their reserves in the face of global and domestic challenges, and they are finding gold to be the right fit.
For these reasons, the WGC has revised its expectations for gold demand from this segment. It now sees central banks raising between 750 and 900 tons of gold by 2025.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, have no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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