Written by Latasya Puan Nagari (a Legal Assistant Manager at Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK);
Edited by Viddy Firmandiaz (a Consultant in Policy & Strategy at South Pole).
This article was published on The Jakarta Post, January 29, 2026.
Since early 2025, Indonesia has experienced economic uncertainty, which become a deep concern from the investors. Moreover, waves of uncertainties in multiple sectors and the global crisis become supporting evidence of how volatile the economy of Indonesia is.
In such an environment with high levels of uncertainty, retail investors are longing to secure their portfolio in safe-haven assets such as gold. Gold has been regarded as a reliable safe-haven during periods of crisis. Amid international geopolitical issues and trade friction in several regions around the globe, global gold prices have rallied significantly. By October 2025, gold prices have climbed above $4,000 per ounce, up to 55% year-to-date. J.P. Morgan forecasts that strong gold demand will drive prices toward $5,000 by the end of 2026 and rise further to $5400 per ounce by the end of 2027. In Indonesia, the gold price has increased up to Rp2,41 million per gram, jumped 59% since the start of 2025.
As attractive options, while trusted, gold pose two main challenges. First, access to gold in Indonesia is largely limited to physical gold through outlets like Antam, UBS, and Galeri 24. In 2025, high demand from investors has made the availability of gold bars significantly scarce. Antam, a well-known internationally certified gold bar producer in Indonesia, is unable to provide a required amount of gold bars daily. In addition to that, purchasing gold is restricted to fixed amount of 1 gram, 2 grams, 5 grams, and so on. These constraints lead to the second challenge, liquidity. Investors must accumulate certain amounts of gold before they can buy or sell it, reducing its flexibility. In today’s fast-moving economy surrounded by retail and middle-income investors, this model is increasingly unfit. Investors must bear storage and security costs, face wide market spreads, and experience limited liquidity.
Gold Exchange-Traded Funds (Gold ETFs) offer a modern solution to preserve the need to have gold as a safe-haven. The Gold ETFs allow investors to gain exposure to the price of gold through the stock exchange. It is backed by physical gold, but unlike traditional purchases, it enables investors to buy and sell with no predetermined amount, opportunities for shared ownership, real-time trading, and low transaction costs. Investors can store it without worrying about safe deposit boxes or minimum weight requirements. In fact, the gold prices that surged in 2025 are also driven by the high demand from Gold ETF investors. In the last quarter of 2025, gold represents 2.8% of the total Assets Under Management (AUM) of global equities.
In ASEAN, Singapore, with its Gold ETFs – SPDR Gold Shares (SPDR) that first listed in 2006 have provided a liquid and cost-efficient access to gold, utilising certified bullion gold as its underlying assets. The presence of SPDR backed by physical bullion enhances Singapore’s position as a regional investment and commodity hub that is safe, transparent, and globally connected. It is recorded by the end of September 2025, SPDR’s AUM hits $3.2 billion at the end of September 2025, making Singapore become Asia’s gold storage amid the global volatility.
The idea of Gold ETFs in Indonesia ahead of 2026 is a critical step toward democratising access to one of the world’s most reliable financial hedges. Beyond its product structure, Gold ETFs add value by aligning with modern investment behaviour by offering real-time access, flexible transaction sizes, market-driven, and transparent pricing.
However, despite those advantages, just like any other ETF instruments, Gold ETFs are not without risks. These products have sometimes been used for short-term speculation, which can amplify prices volatility more than the gold they represent. If not designed well, investors might face extra costs that is not due to fundamental shifts.
Therefore, investors need a product that is transparent, credible, and easy to trade, while protected by an advanced regulation. Hence, some aspects need to be regulated by Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) as the institution that will rule the existence of Gold ETFs in Indonesia. First, the transparent information of the underlying assets of the Gold ETFs. Investors must be able to access the information on the gold’s purity level, authenticity, value, and volume. Therefore, the underlying assets of Gold ETFs in Indonesia must be standardised and certified by reliable sources such as the London Bullion Market Association and Indonesia National Standard. Second, introduce a price stabilisation mechanism to align Gold ETFs prices with fundamentals, similar to methods used in other ETF instruments such as cash creation and in-kind redemption. With the right framework, Gold ETFs can become both safe and practical for everyday investors.
The future of investing must be adaptive, inclusive, and protective. In that future, gold still matters. But how we access it must change. With Gold ETFs, Indonesia can finally bridge the gap between traditional wealth preservation and modern financial access.