This is the REAL reason why gold won't...go up. Go to https://www.kitco.com and look at the price of a 1 ounce maple. Sell price $534.31 CAD , buy price $496.57 CAD. That works out to a spread of $37.74. That is exactly why paper gold continues to trade actively, futures, options, etc. are a hell of alot more flexible than buying physical. Only a large increase in physical purchases will blow the roof off the paper trade.
A person purchases physical gold and is automatically a loser unless the price of gold increases by $37.74 just to break even, nevermind making a profit. There are not enough PM dealer options available in Canada for example, to reduce the size of this spread. This robbery.
I purchased physical gold, maples, small bars, when gold was sub $300 US more than 1.5 years ago. If I was to sell back to Kitco today (emergency purpose only) I probably would still not break even because I must still pay shipping and insurance fees to send the gold back from Vancouver to Montreal.
So my little piece of "dooms day" insurance that I have purchased isn't going to be that easy to unload when the panic time comes, I certainly don't expect to get a fair price when I do, unless some new dealers spring up in Canada.
GD