There are a plethora of different reasons why gold prices move. Sometimes it’s the economy. Other times it’s investor sentiment. Still other times it’s the health of central governments and central banks. For the average gold investor, it’s going to be impossible to make the gold market move on their own. But there are certain people who have major influence in the gold industry. When they talk, people listen and market movement happens.
The Five Biggest Gold Advocates Today
John Paulson
John Paulson is the founder of Paulson & Company, a legendary hedge fund. The fund’s major claim to fame is that they had more than $35 billion worth of assets under management at one point. And the fund founder John Paulson was so heavily invested in gold ETFs, gold stocks, and gold bullion that he had more than $1.5 billion worth of it.
Paulson is looked upon as an investing savant for a wide variety of reasons. And like we said, when he talks people pay attention. In fact, during 2007 he predicted the crash of the housing market. He recognized that it was in a bubble state and soon noticed that it was about to collapse. As you know, his prediction was correct and his shorting the housing market made his fund’s investors more than $15 billion.
Many believe that Paulson’s heyday is behind him and his influence is suddenly fading. That doesn’t change the fact that his belief in the precious metals market is sound investing advice. The rest of the investing world has definitely taken notice.
Read his profile on Forbes.com.
Stanley Druckenmiller
Very similar to John Paulson, Stanley Druckenmiller is a massive guru in the hedge fund world. He founded and runs the hedge fund Duquesne Family Office, a major hedge fund with reported holdings of around $200 million-$400 million at any given time. And similar to Paulson, they heavily invested in ETFs, bullion, and stocks in the precious metal space.
Druckenmiller spends a lot of time in the news because of his investments in gold. In fact, the night prior to Trump getting elected as president, Druckenmiller sold off all of his holdings in gold. This move really grabbed people’s attention and made major waves.
His bearish outlook on gold and precious metals didn’t last very long though. In fact, in February 2017 Druckenmiller began heavily investing in gold again.
Learn more about him on Forbes.com.
George Soros
Although Soros doesn’t consistently like or invest in gold, when he speaks about the market from time to time people still pay attention to what he has to say. At one point Soros notoriously called gold the ultimate bubble. He even mocked gold investors that purchased physical, real-world gold bullion instead of corporate stocks and ETFs.
Even with the negativity toward gold, Soros is even more bearish on the global economic outlook. This is especially true in China. Because of this negativity, the typical gold-negative Soros purchased over 1 million shares of SPDR Gold Trust back in May 2017, which is the biggest gold ETF in the world. When he made the investment it was worth $123 million.
Read about George on Forbes.com.
Janet Yellen
As the former chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen is a very unique individual. She formerly produced the most important fiat currency in the world meaning the US dollar. She was also one of the biggest gold investors in the world since the Fed reportedly has over 8000 metric tons of gold bars located throughout the United States. Her influence spreads far and wide and when she talks people listen.
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Tyler Durden
Although technically a character in the movie, Tyler Durden is also the online pseudonym for the writing staff at ZeroHedge, an investment website. Most important of all, this website focuses on writing very proactive pieces on gold and gold investing. For the most part, their take on the global economy is often sensational and very bearish.
Some websites are certainly more active when writing about gold investing like 321 Gold or Gold Investing News. But the important thing is ZeroHedge is definitely the most influential of the bunch.
Whenever the website posts an article, Tyler Durden is listed in the byline and a picture of Brad Pitt is shared since he played the character in the 1999 movie Fight Club. Because the site is so influential, Tyler Durden may just be the strongest ally and advocate for gold investing.