Gold price, page-6053

I would say not necessarily. Their allocation to BDR was 0.96% early in the year, they then cut that to I think 0.8x percent (can't remember the actual number) in their June rebalance, which was before the wet quarterly announcement. So locked profits on some of the portfolio. And now they have upped it again to 1.01% before what should be our best quarter in a couple of years. So from a rebalance perspective I think they are just playing the same game as the rest of us.

As for the dramatic increase in shares - what most people don't seem to grasp is that Van Eck's holding is via GDXJ. GDXJ is an ETF. So apart from rebalancing their given weighting each quarter most of the buying and selling won't actually be determined by Van Eck. Whether they are a net buyer or a net seller will depend on fund flows to the ETF. obviously net inflows have been quite high this year as people look to gain gold exposure, hedge risk, worried about markets etc etc. So as long as net fund flows into GDXJ are positive then they will continue to be a buyer of BDR.

Don't get me wrong they could game the share price a little in order to buy at the best price in order to get a good return for holders and encourage more inflows but I wouldn't go so far as to say I suspect them of mass manipulation. At the end of the day they control their holdings 4 times a year when they choose their weighting within the ETF. It is investors and net fund flows to GDXJ that primarily control it the rest of the year.