A Unique Physical Option in the Midst of Gold’s Record Run

Gold is in the midst of a historic rally, achieving an unprecedented all-time high of $3,791.09 per ounce in September 2025. This surge is fueled by a combination of geopolitical tensions, persistent buying from central banks worldwide, and evolving monetary policy dynamics. Capitalizing directly on this powerful trend is the VanEck Merk Gold Trust (OUNZ), an exchange-traded fund distinguished by its unique feature: the option for physical delivery.

Investment Strategy and Fund Mechanics

The VanEck Merk Gold Trust offers a low-cost, passive investment strategy for gaining exposure to physical gold. The trust’s portfolio is fully allocated to gold bullion, ensuring its value moves in direct correlation with the spot price of gold.

• Holdings: As of September 25, 2025, the fund’s holdings have increased to 553,771.735 ounces of gold, up from 535,762 ounces held at the end of July 2025.
• Custody: The gold, which meets a minimum purity of 99.5%, is stored in the form of allocated London Good Delivery bars within high-security vaults.
• Defining Feature: The trust’s core advantage is its physical delivery option, which grants shareholders the ability to exchange their shares for actual gold bars or coins.

This ETF tracks the Solactive Gold Spot Index and maintains a total expense ratio of 0.25%.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying VanEck Merk Gold Trust?

Performance and Market Activity Reflect Strong Demand

The fund’s performance metrics vividly illustrate the current gold boom. By September 25, 2025, OUNZ had posted a remarkable yearly gain of 42.55%. On that same date, the share price advanced by 1.16%. Its monthly performance reached 11.15%, while the quarterly gain stood at 9.40%.

Sustained investor interest is evident in the fund’s trading activity, with a three-month average volume of 807,729 shares. Assets under management have grown to $2.07 billion. The number of shares outstanding has also expanded significantly, rising from 48.66 million at the start of the year to 55.6 million by the close of July 2025.

Competitive Positioning in the Gold ETF Landscape

Within the competitive sphere of physical gold ETFs, the VanEck Merk Gold Trust carves out its niche. While larger competitors like the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) or the iShares Gold Trust (IAU) may offer slightly lower expense ratios, they do not provide the same direct physical flexibility, particularly for smaller investors. OUNZ’s primary differentiators remain its physical delivery option and the comparatively low threshold for accessing it.