Just been looking at the gold ETF landscape on the ASX and it's pretty interesting right now. With gold hitting those record highs this year thanks to all the geopolitical stuff and trade policy uncertainty, I figured it was worth checking out what options are actually available for getting exposure without dealing with physical storage headaches.

So there's basically two camps here - you've got the physical gold ETFs that track the spot price, and then the miner-focused ones if you want to bet on the companies themselves. For pure gold exposure, Global X Physical Gold (GOLD) is the biggest player with AU$6.38 billion in assets. It's backed by JPMorgan's London vault, which is solid. Perth Mint's product (PMGOLD) caught my eye though - only 0.15% fee and it's got a government guarantee, which is hard to beat. iShares Physical Gold (GLDN) is newer but their fees are competitive at 0.18%.

If you want gold exposure through mining companies instead, VanEck's Gold Miners ETF (GDX) is the heavyweight with AU$1.60 billion AUM. Top holdings are the obvious ones - Newmont, Agnico Eagle, Barrick. They also throw in some Australian miners like Northern Star and Evolution Mining. The Betashares Global Gold Miners (MNRS) is another option for diversified miner exposure.

Honestly, picking between these gold ETFs really depends on what you're after - pure physical gold tracking or company exposure. The fees are pretty reasonable across the board, usually between 0.15% and 0.59%. Just depends on whether you want that government guarantee angle or prefer the diversification of mining stocks. Most of them have solid liquidity on the ASX too, so getting in and out isn't a hassle.