After a blistering run over 2025 so far, the gold price is finally taking a dip.
Gold last hit a record high back in mid-October, topping out at just over US$4,379 per ounce. Since then, the precious metal has been correcting, and sharply. At current pricing, gold is fetching approximately US$3,960 an ounce. That's down almost 10% from that all-time high.
That's still extremely lofty by historical standards, to be sure. Consider that the yellow metal was priced at US$2,740 this time last year, and US$2,640 at the start of 2025. That still means gold is up a whopping 50% this year to date.
But a dip is a dip, and there would be more than a few investors keen to take advantage of it, if the recent queues outside bullion dealerships are anything to go by.
While buying physical bullion in the form of bars or coins will always remain the preferred way of investing in gold for many, there are alternative options on the ASX that are arguably easier (and cheaper) to pursue for gold bugs.
Let's discuss two of those alternatives today.
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2 ASX ETFs for buying the gold dip
Global X Physical Gold Structured ETF (ASX: GOLD)
First up, we have this physical gold fund from Global X. This ETF represents a direct alternative to buying the precious metal yourself. Each unit of this exchange-traded fund (ETF) represents a direct investment in the metal, which is stored in physical form in a London vault.
As such, the unit price of this ETF should rise and fall almost in tandem with the price of gold itself.
Of course, this doesn't come free; the Global X Physical Gold ETF charges an annual management fee of 0.4% per annum. That still might be fine with investors not wanting to pay the spreads on physical bullion, not to mention insurance or storage costs.
VanEck Gold Miners ETF (ASX: GDX)
Another gold ETF for investors who wish to buy the dip is this offering from VanEck. Instead of buying precious metals itself though, this fund focuses on the companies that own reserves of it under the ground, and extract, process, and sell it to the world. Gold miners, in other words. This ETF holds miners from all over the world, including our own Newmont Corporation (ASX: NEM), as well as Barrick Mining Corp, Franco-Nevada Corp, and Wheaton Precious Metals.
The share prices of gold miners tend to offer 'leveraged' exposure to the price of gold. That means they often rise by more than the metal itself when demand is high, but also tend to drop by more when the mood turns.
As a case in point, the GDX unit price is up a whopping 91.75% in 2025 to date, but has tanked by about 19% since mid-October.
As such, this fund, although riskier, might be more appealing to long-term gold bulls.
