The World Gold Council (WGC) has published a new study of the gold market size, structure, and essential characteristics, and estimated the volume of the metal mined throughout history at 220,000 tonnes, valued at $31 trillion.
Still, WGC analysts say that gold is under-owned, as it makes up 3% of global financial assets, excluding central bank reserves. At the same time, it not uniformly distributed and remains significantly under‑allocated in many investor portfolios.
Meanwhile, central banks and official institutions collectively hold nearly 39,000 tonnes of gold, worth $5 trillion, equivalent to 26% of global allocated reserves as of 2025. For developed countries, the average share of gold is larger at 30%, while emerging markets hold around 15%, on average.
WGC estimates the over-the-counter (OTC) gold investment, acquired through private transactions rather than on exchanges, at 10,000 tonnes. These holdings are less visible to analysts and data collectors than exchange-traded products.
At the end of 2025, gold derivatives, such as futures and options, were worth around $1.5 trillion. Average daily trading volumes in 2025 reached $114 billion on COMEX and $51 billion on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. In terms of observable turnover, global gold trading volumes averaged approximately $361 billion per day in 2025.
"A useful way to visualise this is the ‘gold cube’: if the entire above‑ground stock were melted down it would fit into a cube with sides of roughly 22.5 metres," WGC noted.
"Importantly, the stock is permanent. Gold is virtually indestructible, so unlike many industrial commodities, historical production continues to exist as potential inventory in some form - held as jewellery, coins, bars, central bank reserves, or in other applications."
Lastly, WGC said that 74% of gold supply comas from mining, and 26% - from recycling. The metal also has a diverse demand base - from jewellery (29%) and technology (6%) to investment (43%) and central banks (21%), meaning different drivers can dominate at different points in the economic cycle.
Theodor Lisovoy, Managing Editor, Rough&Polished
