A practical guide to commodity investing in Australia: gold, iron ore, energy, physical bullion, miners and commodity ETFs. No hot tips or charting theatre — just the structures, costs and rules that shape what you actually keep.
Silver tripled between August 2025 and January 2026, then more than halved. What actually drives the price, what an Australian pays to own it, how the dollar changes the return, and whether it earns a place in a portfolio.
Read the article →Official references: ASX index guide, ATO CGT guide and ASIC MoneySmart ETF guide.
The numbers behind the 2026 spike and crash, what physical bullion really costs, GST and CGT, and how the Australian dollar changes your return.
What Australians can actually buy — bullion, ETFs or miners — and whether gold really protects against inflation.
Physical bullion, a gold ETF, unhedged vs hedged, and gold miners. What each one does, what it costs, and where the risk hides.
Why the iron ore price moves the dollar and the budget, and what that means for resource-heavy portfolios.
The record on calling commodity cycles, over one, five and ten years — and the small number of cases where a tilt still makes sense.
Holdings, cost base, storage costs and GST in one sheet — built for an Australian tax return, not a US one.
Who legally owns the metal under each model, what happens if the dealer fails, and why the cheapest option isn't always the cheap one.
How you hold it — physical bullion, an ETF, or resource shares — and whose name it sits in: personally, through a trust or inside super. Changing it later is a capital gains event.
A broad resources ETF or a small allocation to gold covers the sector cheaply. Single stocks, futures and leveraged products have to earn the extra cost and risk.
The CGT discount at twelve months, GST on bullion, storage and insurance costs, and how any distributions land on your return. The after-tax number is the only one that counts.
A commodity ETF is a managed fund bought and sold on an exchange that tracks a commodity or a basket of resources — such as gold, oil or a mining index. It gives exposure in a single trade without a futures account. Fees, tracking method, whether it holds physical metal or futures, and liquidity all still matter. See ASIC MoneySmart's ETF guide.
Eligible Australian resident individuals may generally reduce a qualifying capital gain by 50% after applying capital losses if the asset — for example gold bullion or resource shares — was held for at least 12 months. Different rules apply to companies, super funds and some non-residents, so check the current ATO CGT guide or obtain tax advice.
Investment-grade bullion — gold that is at least 99.5% pure, silver at least 99.9%, and in an investment form — is generally treated as GST-free, while collectible coins, jewellery and lower-purity metal can be taxable. Treatment depends on the exact product and form. The ATO explains precious-metal GST rules.
No. Commodity prices are volatile and pay no income while you hold them. Currency, storage and insurance, liquidity, futures roll, tracking and product-structure risks can all matter, and a single commodity is far less diversified than a broad market. Read the product disclosure statement and compare the investment with your time horizon and risk tolerance.
Worked examples with real Australian figures, tax and GST included, and no product spruiking. One email when something new goes live.