GLD maintains its ingots in the form of 400-ounce London merchandise delivery ingots. These bars are located in the vault of HSBC USA, NA Bank in London. SLV considers it silver in the form of ingots for the delivery of items in London and these ingots are stored in England, New York and other places that may be authorized. The SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) ETF tracks the price of gold bars on the OTC market, and investors can even rollover their IRA into gold by investing in GLD to diversify their portfolio.
Gold is a precious metal commodity and many investors want to keep physical gold as a protection against the general decline in economic conditions and against inflation, while some may use it as a method of diversifying portfolios through a Rollover IRA into Gold. The value of GLD shares is directly related to the value of the gold held by GLD (minus its expenses), and fluctuations in the price of gold could materially and negatively affect investment in stocks. Investing in gold ETFs is a cost-effective and easy way to expose yourself to gold, and the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) ETF is one of many ETFs that offer this exposure. GLD does not generate any revenue, and since GLD regularly sells gold to pay its current expenses, the amount of gold represented by each stock will decrease over time to that point. GLD tracks the price of gold by holding gold bars in a trust in the form of 400-ounce London Gold Delivery ingots, deposited in an assigned account.
In the case of the GLD, HSBC has an account in the name of the Bank of New York that contains uniquely identifiable gold bars and separates them from any other gold it holds for other customers.