In recent years, gold has become arguably the most popular commodity from an investing perspective, and with good reason. Gold and the funds that track it have provided some massive returns for traders and investors all around the globe. But that popularity got especially heated in 2010 and the first half of 2011, as gold featured a meteoric rise to eclipse the $1,900 /oz. level with the financial world buzzing about what appeared to be the best investment at the time [see also Three Reasons Why Gold Is Overvalued]. It was because of this rise that gold became something of a speculative tool for traders, as they used it to hedge against equity losses. And for 2011, it worked quite well. Last year, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) featured a correlation of -0.64 to the S&P 500 partly due to the number of investors using it as a trading instrument. [...] Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com. Related Posts: Seven Surprising ETF Performance Comparisons Tuesday’s Chart To Watch: SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) ETFs: The $10 Billion Club 2011 Recap: Another Big Year For ETFs Ten New Year’s Resolutions For ETF Investors