Costco's Gold Bars Are So Popular, There's a Limit on How Many You Can Buy — Should You Invest?
With gold having tipped a recent record high price of just over $3,500 per troy ounce (31.1 grams) on April 22, interest from investors — both individual and institutional — has been piqued.
Costco has been a major player in the physical bullion game for most casual investors. In early 2024, CNBC reported that Wells Fargo projected Costco was selling an estimated $200 million worth of gold bars and coins on a monthly basis.
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And now Costco is tightening its restrictions on how many gold bars its customers can purchase. Read on for more details, as well as whether you should invest.
In response to the dramatically increased demand, as a May 23 Money report indicated, Costco began tightening restrictions around how many gold bars could be purchased. Customers can buy two 1-ounce gold bars per transaction, as they could previously. However, they are now restricted to just one transaction in a 24-hour period.
Costco has quite a few gold options on its website, including coins and bars. Most options are around $3,500 as of June 16.
It's clear there's a demand for gold, as Costco's new restriction shows. However, the question remains: Are physical gold bars, or bullion, worth buying as an investment?
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In April, Sameer Samana — head of global equities and real assets at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute — expressed some degree of hesitation about buying into physical gold at that time (prior to it hitting its record high), CNBC reported.
'We're probably close to maximum optimism on gold at this point,' Samana said. 'It's so overbought. Buying gold right now, you're coming a little late to the party. It doesn't mean it's over, but you're not early.'
Samana suggested a gold bullion-backed ETF rather than the purchase of physical bars or coins.
However, in May, Goldman Sachs Research commodities strategies Lina Thomas provided an exhaustive breakout of gold's past, current and future performance. She gestured toward the notion that traders often buy gold when confronted with macroeconomic uncertainty, and further that central banks were also buying large quantities of the yellow metal.
'The long-run bull story for gold is that central banks are buying large amounts of it. We expect that to continue for at least another three years,' Thomas said, adding that Goldman Sachs predicts gold to hit $3,700 per troy ounce as 2025 draws to a close.
'While the key factor since 2022 used to be central bank buying alone, ETF investors are now joining the gold rally. As both compete for the same bullion, we are expecting gold prices to rise even further,' she added.
No matter where you buy your gold from, such a pricey buy should be made through reputable dealers, according to Brett Elliott, director of content at APMEX. Elliott was also bullish over gold's performance prospects in 2025, according to CBS News.
'The most important decision you'll make is where to buy from,' Elliott said. 'Choose a reputable dealer, preferably one that has been in business for some time with good reviews and will also buy back from you when you're ready to sell.'
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