July 08, 2008 at 10:00 am by Tom Lydon
The largest gold exchange traded fund (ETF) has been a real trailblazer lately.
The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is the most actively traded call option on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, reports Sophia Grene for the Financial Times. The news is remarkable because it’s only been a month since the options began trading.
The decision to allow options on the fund involved resolving some jurisdictional issues between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), since the SEC oversees funds, while the CFTC oversees commodities - which are within the fund.
The two agencies finally came to an agreement and established a permanent regulatory liaison between them.
Last week, GLD was also listed on the Tokyo stock exchange, where it became the first physically-backed commodity ETF listed.
The gold in the fund is held in the London vaults of HSBC Bank USA. The fund is up 10.8% year-to-date.
