Yesterday, on a gap up in spot Gold prices (GLD and IAU up 1.40%), we saw predominantly call buying activity in a Gold Miners Equity ETF, Market Vectors TR Gold Miners (NYSEArca: GDX).
GDX has amassed more than $8 billion since its inception in 2006, and has exposure to names including ABX, GG, and NEM for instance.
Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners (NYSEArca: GDXJ) is another fund in this segment, concentrating instead on smaller cap names in the Mining space whereas GDX has a decidedly larger cap slant.
Other entrants in this space include PowerShares Global Gold and Precious Metals Portfolio (NasdaqGM: PSAU) and iShares MSCI Gold Miners (NYSEArca: RING), which debuted only in January of this year. For those looking to leverage their exposure from a short term trading standpoint to the Gold Miners equity space, Direxion offers Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X Shares (NYSEArca: NUGT).
In 2012 many market observers have noted the staggering under-performance of the Gold Miner related equities compared to the actual returns of spot gold. For instance, YTD performance returns look like this: Gold (IAU +3.35%, whereas the Miners are as follows: GDX -18.32%, PSAU -18.48%, GDXJ -22.19%, RING -28.01%).