China's Largest ETF Dethroned: Gold Fund Overtakes CSI 300
Taylor Wilson
The E Fund Gold ETF has overtaken the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF to become China's largest exchange-traded fund — ¥90 billion vs. ¥83 billion — as state-backed funds retreat from equities and capital pivots toward defensive assets.
Who overtook whom, and by how much?
The E Fund Gold ETF climbed to ¥90 billion in market cap, surpassing the CSI 300 ETF at ¥83 billion to become China's largest ETF.
The CSI 300 ETF once peaked at roughly ¥440 billion. Today it holds less than a fifth of that. This means → the story is less about gold rising and more about the CSI 300 being drained.
The gold ETF itself shrank sharply from a ¥136 billion peak; a modest two-day bounce was just enough to pull ahead. In plain terms = both funds are shrinking — the CSI 300 is simply shrinking faster.
Why is the "national team" pulling out?
The CSI 300 ETF was the primary tool China's state-backed investors used to prop up equities. Central Huijin (中央汇金) and similar sovereign entities began buying heavily in 2024, inflating it to mega-fund scale.
This year, those same entities have been steadily selling across several large ETFs. Last week the CSI 300 ETF saw net outflows of roughly ¥18.5 billion — among the largest in Asia.
This reflects a possible policy judgment that emergency market support is no longer needed, and state capital is being withdrawn in an orderly fashion.
Why is the broad market lagging so badly?
The CSI 300 is up about 4.9% year-to-date. The MSCI Asia-Pacific index is up 21% — more than four times as much.
Tech-focused indices like the STAR 50 have hit record highs, but gains are concentrated in a handful of AI hardware names — not lifting the broader market.
This means → China's stock market is not devoid of winners, but a broad-based rally has not materialized. Economic uncertainty continues to weigh on overall performance.
Where is the money going instead?
China's third- and fourth-largest ETFs are now the ChinaAMC Short-Term Bond ETF and the Hwabao Cash Management ETF — both fixed-income and money-market products.
In plain terms = the top of the leaderboard is all "safety first": gold, short-duration bonds, money-market funds. Equity ETFs are the ones shrinking.
This reflects a post-national-team repricing: with state support fading, capital is voting with its feet — shifting from offense to defense and re-pricing risk across the board.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.