According to CoinDesk, on April 30, as reported by the Web3 Radar public account, some people regard gold as a "safe haven," believing it can retain and increase value. But why is it that in this seemingly foolproof capital game, ordinary people always end up being "cut like chives"? Here are their stories (from the first-person perspective):
Cici, a Taobao store owner, 26 years old, bought gold worth 400,000 yuan.
Having avoided A-shares and Trump coins, I still couldn't escape gold.
Speaking of which, I am one of the few people who have lost money among those who buy gold. This is indeed very counterintuitive; everyone thinks buying gold won’t lose money.
I lost money because I chased the rise. I remember clearly that day was last Tuesday, the highest day of increase in gold history—typically it might rise by one or two points, but that day gold rose from 800 yuan per gram all the way up to 833 yuan per gram, close to three or four points. The sudden high point made me a bit flustered and anxious, wondering how it could rise by 3 points in just half a day? So, around noon that day, when gold was at its peak, I bought in.
In fact, during this period from March to April, I had been observing gold for a long time. Many people around me were buying gold; for example, my boyfriend bought in March, and after that, he would tell me every day that gold had risen one point, then two points... This made me a bit tempted. Indeed, during that time, gold had risen for more than ten consecutive days without dropping, all red. He probably bought about 300,000 yuan worth of gold, and his continuous gains over a few months might have been around 30,000 to 40,000 yuan. Besides my boyfriend, many colleagues and friends were also buying gold, and I could see them posting on social media about how much they earned from gold every day.
Plus, during those consecutive rising days, while scrolling through Xiaohongshu, almost everyone was saying, "The high point you bought today is the low point you will regret tomorrow." Everyone generally believes that gold will continue to rise. If you don't buy now, you might miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Under this sentiment, I felt anxious, thinking that since it has risen so much, I should invest a bit too; otherwise, if it keeps rising, I won't have any investment opportunities left.
I got so obsessed. In fact, I am a person who really hates risks. Before this, I had only bought Yu'e Bao or fixed deposits at the bank. Besides keeping money in fixed deposits, I withdrew all the money in Yu'e Bao to buy gold, totaling about 400,000 yuan. I later thought that if it weren't for the fixed deposits being inaccessible, I might have really gone all in.
But by the afternoon, the gold price fell back to 826 yuan per gram. At that time, I wasn’t particularly afraid; I thought it was just a temporary drop, so I chose to buy more to lower the average cost. I added 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, bringing my average price down to around 831 yuan per gram. By that time, my total investment had reached 450,000 yuan.
I realized something was wrong that night when I found that gold was dropping increasingly fast, even falling to only 780 yuan per gram the next day, with a floating loss of 20,000 yuan. I started to panic, and every minute at work, I thought about checking the real-time gold price on JD.com, feeling particularly distressed, constantly wondering whether to buy more, whether I would end up buying at a high point again. I even started calculating how much I would lose if it fell to 700 yuan or even 600 yuan per gram. In the end, my mindset broke, and I sold off about 10,000 yuan worth, which was a pure loss, but I still kept most of it.
Having lost so much, I comforted myself by thinking that since I lost so much money, I might as well treat myself to something good and regard the 20,000 yuan loss as food expenses. So that day, I chose a fancy restaurant in Shanghai, one where the average cost is over 1,000 yuan per person.
I am very afraid of seeing my assets shrink. I run a Taobao store and think every penny I earn is hard-won. Moreover, I’ve heard so many stories of investment failures in most narratives. Including the fact that my family owns a house, which I originally planned to sell for 1 million in 2022. However, when I wanted to sell it last year, the price had dropped to 500,000, and no one was even willing to look at it. This made me very averse to investing and I would even advise my parents not to buy stocks or anything.
In comparison to various asset allocation methods that are declining in value, gold has rekindled my confidence. I have considered the risks, but the speed of the rise at that time was too enticing. I felt that if it were like before, losing a few thousand yuan wouldn’t matter much regardless of how high it went, so I chose to invest more. After buying, I even began to fantasize about the returns in my mind.
For a young person, the channels for asset appreciation are continuously shrinking, and the space is getting smaller. People don't want to see their money fail to keep up with inflation, which is why they are attracted to hot investment methods. This reminds me of last year's surge in A-shares during the National Day; many people said, "Those who didn’t buy stocks during this time missed out big." At that time, I too planned to buy under this sentiment, but I was traveling, and bank card operations were inconvenient. By the time I returned from vacation, the stock market had already started to drop, and I was relieved to have escaped a disaster. Recently, I almost bought Trump coins too, but I was stopped due to account issues and ended up not buying, otherwise, I would have lost even more.
Having avoided the A-shares and Trump coins, I still couldn't escape gold. This makes me feel that I actually don't have a talent for investment. Thinking about it makes me sad; my first attempt at a higher-risk investment ended in failure.
However, after this incident, I might not touch any risky investments again. I would just keep everything in the bank, where the conservative annual return is only about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, which can't be compared to the 30% increase in gold in a month. But at least I wouldn’t have to worry about it. If one day gold rises back, especially to 833 yuan per gram, I would throw it all away without hesitation and wouldn’t hope to earn more; I am really tired.
Zhang Ming, engineer, 24 years old, bought gold worth 200,000 yuan.
I’m such a frugal person, yet I would end up getting obsessed with gold.
Speaking of buying gold, I don't even need to review it because I just bought it a week ago, specifically on the day gold rose to 833 yuan. Looking back, I wasn't calm during the process of chasing the rise; I was influenced by many opinions. I bought accumulated gold on JD.com, where there’s a "Gold Friends Circle" where I could see many buyers' comments, which also swayed my choices.
I remember very clearly, on the first day I bought gold, there were originally two banks on JD Gold where I could buy accumulated gold: one was Zheshang Bank and the other was Minsheng Bank. At that time, for some reason, the price difference between the two banks was as high as 6 yuan per gram. Someone in the Gold Friends Circle asked why the difference was so big and if it was because it was going to rise significantly, suggesting that insiders were secretly buying in. Everyone began to say to invest everything, and I couldn’t help but follow suit, investing 50,000 yuan since that bank card had a limit of 50,000.
The next day, the price rose to 833 yuan per gram. I had initially planned to sell, and at that time, selling would still net me a profit of 2,000 yuan. However, everyone said gold could reach 850 yuan per gram. I believed them again, so I chose to chase the rise, switched to a card with no limit, and successively added 150,000 yuan.
By that afternoon, gold began to fall, and selling would only return the principal. By the next day, selling would mean a loss of 3,000 yuan. I felt a bit unwilling, thinking that I had previously earned 2,000 yuan and hadn’t sold, so I couldn’t possibly sell at a loss now. However, by the next evening, I had lost 9,300 yuan. Although some people said to hold on, it would rise back, this was my first time buying gold, so I was certainly scared. I believed those who were pessimistic, saying gold would drop to 750 yuan per gram.
At that moment, my mindset completely collapsed. I finally couldn’t help but sell my 200,000 yuan worth of gold. I originally thought that if it really dropped to 750 yuan per gram, I would buy back in, essentially bottom-fishing, but in reality, after selling, I didn’t dare to buy back.
Until one day later, when gold rose again to 802 yuan per gram, I couldn’t help but buy another 10,000 yuan worth. This time, when the price fell again, I didn’t sell at a loss but instead added another 40,000 yuan to lower the average price, and now I'm completely stuck with no way to break even. I realized that I am that kind of person who chases the rise and falls into losses.
The May Day holiday is coming, and people are starting to say that gold will definitely drop sharply since the market won't open. I really want to sell it now because if the market is closed during the holiday, only the domestic market stops, but the overseas market can still buy and sell. It’s possible that during the holiday, others will raise the price, and once we open the market, they will pull the gold price back down. Wouldn’t that be like being slaughtered?
As the price of gold fluctuates, my mood has also been up and down during this period. On that morning when I earned 2,000 yuan, I thought, "What’s the point of going to work? I earned this much in half a day." That morning, I didn’t do any work and just kept watching the gold. Now I’ve come to realize that one should still go to work honestly.
I was born in 2001 and graduated just two years ago. This 200,000 yuan is all my savings. As a medical equipment engineer, I often travel on business, taking projects at various hospitals across the country. Usually, I don't have much desire to consume; the company provides accommodation and meals. Besides spending a little on buying skins in Honor of Kings, I have no other expenses—Honor of Kings is already considered a very economical game. I'm not a collector, so I only buy skins I particularly like, and in total, I spend about 2,000 yuan a month at most. I never thought that I, such a frugal person, would get obsessed with gold.
The reason for the obsession is due to the characteristics of gold. It fluctuates greatly, making buying gold feel more thrilling than stock trading. The stock market has a limit down concept, meaning it won’t fall below a certain point, but gold doesn’t have that. It fluctuates greatly every day, with price differences of 50 yuan per gram, which might be equivalent to the interest earned from saving in the bank for a year.
At the same time, I bought accumulated gold, which can be traded in a 24-hour cycle across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, allowing for real-time buying and selling. Many people trade gold using this feature. Initially, I thought this was an advantage, believing I had the judgment to see the downward trend and quickly act to stop losses, unlike gold ETFs, which close at 3 PM, meaning you’re stuck and have to wait until the next trading day to sell.
But now I realize that everyone overestimates their rationality and underestimates their greed, at least I cannot be that rational. This made me feel exhausted; at one point, during a 24-hour day, I spent 18 hours watching gold prices, skipping naps and setting many alarms to check the real-time prices every half hour. Now I think about it, this loss really affected my sleep quality.
I do have a bad mindset. Before this, I didn't pay much attention to investments and had little experience. A couple of years ago, I tried to buy some funds, which clearly indicated R1 risk, but that year, I lost money despite the low risk. I lost 5,000 yuan in principal, 500 yuan in one day, and I was shocked, thinking how could this happen? After losing three or four thousand yuan, I stopped managing my finances altogether. This time too, I heard that Chinese aunties bought gold years ago but had to wait eight years to break even. After losing 9,000 yuan, I felt I didn't have that much patience to wait for it to slowly rise.
So now I think, selling at a loss is fine; at least that night, I slept really well.
Xu Xiao, 38 years old, former real estate worker, lost 20,000 yuan.
I originally wanted to quietly make a profit, but ended up getting stuck after buying at a high price.
At the beginning of April, I watched the gold price rise all the way to around 750 yuan, only to suddenly drop below 700 yuan. At that time, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to buy, and I had already prepared the money. However, my husband advised me not to get overly excited, which instantly doused my enthusiasm, and I didn’t buy. Later, when I paid attention to the gold price again, I found it reached a new high, and I regretted not decisively buying at 700 yuan, but my husband still told me not to pay attention. With a hint of defiance, on April 22, I finally couldn’t help but secretly buy 200 grams at a price of less than 830 yuan per gram, and the next morning I added another 100 grams, investing nearly 250,000 yuan.
In fact, I was aiming to make a quick profit, taking advantage of the current gold boom. Even if it rises by 100 yuan per gram, I could still make a good amount of money. People around me thought I was crazy; in March, I bought physical gold once, and a friend who knew said I was buying at the wrong time, but I didn’t think so. When it previously rose to more than 500 yuan per gram, everyone thought the price was high. Looking back now, it seems too low, and it can still hold value for the next generation decades later.
My husband does not support my purchase of accumulated gold. He is a conservative investor who has lost a lot in stock trading before and feels that frequent trading online can easily affect one's mindset, and sooner or later, one will face a setback. I used to work in real estate and am well aware that buying and selling tests one's mindset. However, in recent years, all major decisions regarding buying or selling houses in our family have been made by my husband.
He always thought he had a good eye. In 2018, he said housing prices would fall significantly in the next five years, and sold his previous house for three times the price. In 2019, we planned to invest in real estate. At that time, the housing market was booming, and people around us were frantically taking high loans. I also bought at a high price, but in 2020, my husband stopped me and sold the high-priced house at the original price. It turned out that his decisions were mostly correct; at least this house avoided a loss of 1.5 to 2 million yuan.
This time, when the gold price dropped to 700 yuan per gram, I regretted missing the opportunity to make money, blamed him multiple times, but he insisted that this wouldn't make money. Even if it did, he wouldn't be able to let go, and it wouldn’t end well compared to the long-term investment in physical gold. The more I thought about it, the more unwilling I felt, so I took out a sum of cash from my current account and invested it. On the day gold prices fell sharply, he messaged me, asking, "You didn’t buy at a high price, did you?" Of course, I didn’t want to admit it, so I replied, "How could I buy at this price?" Originally, I wanted to quietly make a profit and then show off to him, but unexpectedly, just after I added my investment on the 23rd, gold prices plummeted to below 800 yuan per gram. I became a fresh batch of chives, directly getting stuck and losing 20,000 yuan.
In the first three days of entering the market, the first thing I did every morning was to check today’s gold price. With daily drops of several dozen yuan, my heart was bleeding. I was both afraid it would drop too quickly and still held onto some hope, as if sitting at a mahjong table, thinking that this round was just a bit unlucky, and the next round would win back. But I found the price just stuck there and never regained yesterday's glory. I felt quite depressed and vented on Xiaohongshu, where some people laughed at me while others comforted me. In reality, I had no chance to voice it out and could only silently fume, and my husband, unaware of the situation, was careful in speaking to me those days.
In the past few days, I uninstalled my banking app and intentionally blocked news about gold. Sometimes I only find out the current gold price from comments by netizens. For me, I still believe that gold will rise in the long term and I will not choose to sell at a loss. I must hold on until I break even; if it falls below 700 yuan per gram, I will still consider buying more.
I once had a failed investment experience. In 2020, I bought five funds, and the price rose rapidly right after I purchased them. I felt great and kept adding to my investment, but suddenly I encountered a crash. I spent all the money I had earned and thought, at worst, I could take another gamble and keep buying more. In the end, I realized something was wrong as the funds kept falling, and I got stuck to this day, losing 50%. At that moment, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I just left it all in there and didn’t look again, treating it as a loss.
However, currently losing 20,000 yuan is still within my psychological tolerance. Plus, the money invested was originally meant to sit idle and can be used at any time. I think concluding at this time is a bit premature; no matter how much it drops, it won’t be halved. It can’t possibly be worse than my fund investments. If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll just consider it a small loss.
Wei Wei, a doctoral student, 32 years old, bought gold worth 500,000 yuan.
Until today, I still believe that gold is the best investment.
This is not my first time buying gold. In April 2024, I began buying gold for the first time when the price was around 490 yuan per gram. However, since it was my first attempt, I didn't dare to invest too much, only buying 10,000 yuan. After a while, I felt I understood the mechanism of accumulated gold better, so I invested 200,000 yuan as the price rose from 490 yuan to about 550 yuan.
But during that period, gold’s rise wasn’t that exaggerated. Although I had 200,000 yuan in principal, through various low-buy high-sell operations, I only earned a little over 10,000 yuan in total. Moreover, since I graduated with my PhD and had to write a thesis, constantly monitoring the market was impacting my writing, so I sold everything off.
Although this experience didn’t earn me much, it gave me a belief that trading gold can be profitable. This year during the Qingming Festival, when gold plummeted, I thought it had adjusted and decided to buy again with a try-it-out mentality. I remember at that time, the opening price was 705 yuan per gram, and in just a minute, it changed to 710 yuan per gram. But because so many people were buying, there was a point where I couldn’t get in for several minutes. Everyone might have realized that the adjustment was over and a rise was beginning, so I invested 400,000 yuan, putting everything in.
I not only bought 400,000 yuan worth of gold myself but also had my wife invest 100,000 yuan. In our family, we have always managed our own finances. My wife is conservative, and her money has all been in fixed deposits at the bank. No matter how many times I explained it to her, she didn’t dare to invest. I remember the day gold rose to 810 yuan per gram; I strongly encouraged her once again, explaining that in recent years, gold has had three major rallies due to the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and Trump's tariff policy, and that it would continue to rise. I even drew a curve on paper for her and we re-learned gold-related knowledge together.
She finally got interested and first invested 50,000 yuan. At that time, she had 500,000 yuan in savings that had been in a one-year fixed deposit, which would mature around May, and I urged her to quickly withdraw the money to buy gold, but she had a compulsion and didn’t agree. Later, she thought about it and was glad she didn’t listen to me, or else she would have lost more—after buying, she made over 1,000 yuan that day and was quite happy, saying it was more than what she made at work. However, just a day or two later, gold started to drop. I taught her not to panic and suggested she could buy more to lower the average price, so she bought another 50,000 yuan, bringing her average price down to around 790 yuan per gram.
I found that when trading gold for a long time, I always get stuck. Previously, whenever I bought and sold gold, I couldn't hold on. If it rose by a dozen yuan, I would sell, thinking that I should secure my profits. As a result, after selling, it would rise even more crazily. Therefore, when it rose to 833 yuan this time, I finally decided to hold onto it properly and absolutely not sell quickly, but then trouble occurred.
I bought early and didn't lose much money, but my wife is currently in a floating loss of several thousand yuan. She was initially a bit angry, but now we both have a stable mindset. In my view, investment always carries risks, and there’s nothing worse than losing in gold. Buying a house can cost two to three million yuan, and losing 500,000 yuan in a year is possible. As for returns, gold has already been quite considerable. For example, if she saves in the bank, her one-year fixed deposit of 500,000 yuan only earns 9,000 yuan in interest, which is practically nothing.
Even though gold is falling every day now, I still maintain the belief that it will rebound. After all, historically, only in 2013 and 2014 did gold continue to fall; at other times, it has been rising. As long as you hold on and don’t sell, you won’t lose money. Especially in the current unstable environment, I am even more determined to hold long-term.
We don't lack money at home; the money used to buy gold can be considered spare money, so we aren't worried. A drop of 20,000 yuan is within our expectations. The year I got married, housing prices happened to drop significantly, and my wife and I did not plan to buy a house, so we didn’t have a mortgage. In our daily life, we don’t engage in excessive consumption. As a PhD student, my income is relatively low, and both our parents have helped a lot. I even thought that if gold drops again, I would ask my mom for some money.
Overall, I still prefer low-risk investment methods, where the returns don’t need to be particularly exaggerated, just higher than the bank. So I also don’t trade stocks or buy funds. Only in the past two years did I try mining electronic currencies, specifically Bitcoin, a type of virtual currency, selling them after mining. Compared to trading Bitcoin, mining actually carries no risk; it just incurs a bit of electricity costs—its graphics card consumes a lot of power and needs to be kept cool with air conditioning 24 hours a day. So there was a time when someone mined at the company to save on costs. I mined for about five or six months and earned a few thousand yuan, but later my wife joked that the money earned didn’t even cover the electricity costs. During that period, our electricity bill alone was over 1,000 yuan a month.
Looking at it this way, gold is still my best choice. I think it has just been fluctuating a lot recently, but overall, it will appreciate in the long run, and you don't need to worry about it or spend time studying any company's financial reports or news; just looking at Xiaohongshu is enough.
Rainbow, a university student, 21 years old.
Losing a month's worth of living expenses in one day.
Since investing in gold, I open Alipay every night around 8 or 9 to watch the market and check earnings. This has become a fixed habit for me. For me, a fluctuation of hundreds of yuan is not a small amount, and checking before bed makes me feel more at ease.
I am a junior this year, usually part-time writing novels. I saved up my manuscript fees for half a year and have several thousand yuan in my little savings. I feel that keeping it all in the bank is too much of a loss, so I took some money out for investment. Originally, I was buying bond funds, thinking it was a guaranteed profit, so I didn’t pay attention.
Just at that time, gold prices dropped. I had actually been waiting for a low price to buy gold. I study accounting, and my teacher occasionally discusses gold trends in class. I sometimes watch financial bloggers’ predictions and think that at least investing in gold won’t devalue my money. After my bond fund broke even, I bought three C-class gold ETFs on Alipay. These are suitable for short-term holding and can be withdrawn at any time with low transaction fees. Initially, I invested nearly 10,000 yuan, and for several days, it kept rising. I experienced a joy that buying bond funds never brought me. In a moment of strong emotion, I added to my investment several times, each time adding two to three thousand yuan. However, the good times didn’t last long. By November, my earnings record was all in the red, and I had already lost my principal. I thought that if I didn’t break even soon, I would run away.
Now, I pay special attention to current events, such as the Russia-Ukraine war and tariff policies, as they directly affect my investment decisions. At the beginning of this year, when Trump took office, I thought that the US dollar and gold are closely related. If the dollar falls, gold will surely rise, so in February, I increased my investment by 3,000 yuan. After that, as the gold price soared, I didn’t invest further, fearing that I would be stuck if it rose too quickly.
I am relatively conservative and prefer to buy at low prices; even a slight drop when chasing high prices pains me. Gold is not like the stock market; frequently buying and selling incurs transaction fees, so I usually choose to remain inactive. If the price drops, I wait a couple of days to see if it will go even lower before considering whether to buy more. Sometimes, when it continues to fall, and financial articles predict a very pessimistic outlook, I secretly feel relieved that I didn’t make a purchase.
In the past six months, the speed of gold price increase has been like a rocket, and the rising and falling prices always tug at my heartstrings. Previously, my bond fund would lose dozens of yuan in a day, making me so upset I couldn’t eat. Now, gold may have fed my ambition, with daily losses reaching hundreds or even thousands of yuan, but I still comfort myself that it's okay; I can earn it back in a few days.
April 23 was the day I lost the most since I started investing. That night, I opened Alipay to check the earnings and was shocked to find an average loss of 1,300 yuan per investment, more than my monthly food expenses. My first reaction was to wonder what major international event had occurred. I kept refreshing various bloggers' predictions on gold prices; some said it was a technical correction, others said the Federal Reserve was lowering interest rates, and some predicted the end of the Russia-Ukraine war... In the end, I concluded that gold prices are hard to predict, and I could only take it step by step.
The gains and losses of my little savings are closely tied to my daily life. I don’t spend much while at school; my monthly living expenses are at most 3,000 yuan. After losing a lot, I consciously control my spending for a few days, giving up on things I can do without, and even hesitating to spend on games I want to invest in.
Although I am indeed losing, fortunately, it hasn’t affected my principal yet. If that day really comes, I will definitely be the first to run away.
(All narrators are pseudonyms)
