ETFs

By Tony Dong, MSc, CETF on December 17, 2025
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

By Tony Dong, MSc, CETF on December 17, 2025
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

A closer look at the fintech’s new physical gold trading feature, including how it works, the costs involved, and when it makes sense, compared to the alternatives.

Gold prices hit a new all-time high of $4,379 USD per ounce in October. At the time, we covered the move with a comprehensive guide on the different ways investors can gain exposure to gold. The takeaway was straightforward: if your goal is portfolio diversification, owning gold through an exchange-traded product (ETP)—whether an exchange-traded fund (ETF), closed-end fund (CEF), or exchange-traded receipt (ETR)—is usually more accessible and affordable than going to a physical precious metals dealer.

That guide, however, left out one important new entrant. Wealthsimple has since launched direct physical gold trading, and it arrived with a splash. The rollout included a promotional giveaway featuring a one-kilogram gold bar, 10 one-ounce coins, and 50 one-tenth-ounce coins for eligible clients who deposited funds and completed a survey. The promotion wrapped up on December 5.

Wealthsimple has a history of shaking up the Canadian financial services landscape. It moved ahead of the big banks on features like zero-commission options trading, direct indexing, and now physical gold access inside a brokerage account. On paper, that combination of simplicity and novelty is appealing.

The question is whether it holds up beyond the headline hype. Here’s my analysis on how Wealthsimple’s physical gold trading works, and how it stacks up against gold ETPs.

Wealthsimple’s physical gold offering is not a stock or fund. When you buy it, you are purchasing a fractional, Canadian dollar-denominated digital interest in physical gold reserves. The gold itself is stored at the Royal Canadian Mint and Brinks, and it is held at the “program level on a segregated basis.” In plain terms, your gold is held in trust alongside other Wealthsimple clients’ gold........

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