OPNEX Gold Market View on Flows Real Yields and Safe Haven Bid

Gold

Where gold is starting 2026

OPNEX notes that gold has been printing fresh all-time highs in January, with spot prices pushing into the $4,900/oz area and U.S. futures settling near similar levels.
In parallel, major banks have turned more openly bullish - Goldman Sachs, for example, raised its end-2026 forecast to $5,400/oz (from $4,900), pointing to strong investment demand and ongoing central-bank diversification.

OPNEX's interpretation: the headline is the price, but the story is the buyer mix.

The OPNEX "demand stack" that explains the tape

Rather than treating gold as a single macro trade, OPNEX breaks demand into three stacked layers that can reinforce - or cancel - each other.

1) The official bid: central banks

World Gold Council tracking shows central banks were net buyers (45 tonnes) in November, with year-to-date reported net buying of 297 tonnes through November.
OPNEX reads this as a slow-moving but persistent pillar: it typically doesn't chase intraday headlines, but it can keep the market tight when private demand returns.

2) The fast bid: ETFs and asset allocation

OPNEX flags a clear "allocation pulse" in the ETF channel:

• World Gold Council reports 2025 was the strongest year of global gold ETF inflows on record, with AUM and holdings reaching record highs.
  
  
• Early 2026 flow recaps show SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) pulling in about $3.2B as gold pushed to new highs.
  
  

This matters because ETF demand can scale quickly - it is one of the few channels that can materially change marginal demand over weeks, not quarters.

3) The leverage layer: futures positioning and volatility

Gold's futures market activity remains heavy, with COMEX data showing large daily volumes and open interest.
OPNEX treats this layer as the "amplifier": it can accelerate trends, but it can also drive sharp air pockets when positioning becomes crowded.

The part many traders miss: gold is trading against real yields, not just headlines

OPNEX emphasizes that gold's durability at record highs is notable given where real yields sit.

Recent data for the 10-year TIPS real yield has been around the ~1.9% area in January 2026.
In older regimes, real yields at these levels were often a meaningful headwind for non-yielding assets.

So why is gold still bid? OPNEX points to a blend of:

• policy and geopolitical hedging demand (investors paying for insurance), and
  
  
• reserve diversification (a structural buyer base that is less price-sensitive than typical commodity users).
  
  

A practical map for 2026: four triggers OPNEX would watch

OPNEX does not anchor on a single target price. It watches triggers that tend to change the type of gold market traders are in.

1. USD swings: a weaker dollar mechanically helps gold; recent reporting explicitly linked the rally to a softer dollar.
   
   
2. Real-yield direction: if real yields keep rising, gold often needs stronger "insurance" demand to offset the drag.
   
   
3. ETF flow continuity: sustained inflows can keep dips shallow; flow reversals can turn pullbacks into corrections.
   
   
4. Central bank cadence: official-sector buying staying elevated reduces the chance that demand disappears all at once.
   
   

What would weaken the bull case in OPNEX's framework

OPNEX highlights three conditions that would most likely cool the market:

• Real yields reset higher while risk hedging demand fades (less need to pay for insurance).
  
  
• ETF flows stall or reverse after a record year, removing the fastest-growing demand channel.
  
  
• Geopolitical/policy risk premium compresses, lowering the urgency to hold hedges.
  
  

Closing take from OPNEX

OPNEX views 2026 gold as a market where price is being supported by multiple buyers at once - central banks providing a slow but steady bid, ETFs delivering fast allocation pressure, and futures activity amplifying momentum.
That combination can keep the trend resilient, but it also means the cleanest early warning signal is usually not the headline - it's whether the flow stack stays intact.