Speculative substance: ‘physical gold’ in finance

Abstract

This paper focuses on how gold as a physical object moves in financial markets, in what is known by many market participants as ‘the gold space’. Gold acts today in financial markets as an ambiguous moral and calculative actor, whose material properties signify both solidity and speculation. This paper examines gold as a ‘speculative substance’ in two arenas: (1) controversies surrounding what should be done with the gold that is held in central banks as part of the sovereign wealth of nation-states but no longer as reserve currency; and (2) A split between markets for ‘physical gold’ and other financial assets that are based on gold, such as gold exchange-traded funds.