abrdn Precious Metals Basket ETF Trust Annual Report: Your 2025 Performance Snapshot

Unlock the key insights from the abrdn Precious Metals Basket ETF Trust's (GLTR) annual performance. This summary cuts through the jargon of the 10-K report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025, providing you with a clear understanding of this unique investment.

Business Overview: Understanding GLTR

The abrdn Precious Metals Basket ETF Trust (GLTR) provides investors with a straightforward way to invest in a diversified basket of physical precious metals: gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Instead of personally buying and storing these metals, GLTR holds them in secure vaults, and investors own shares representing a portion of that basket.

GLTR's core mission is to track the combined price movements of its underlying physical metals, after accounting for its operating expenses. As a passive investment, it does not attempt to outperform the market through active trading. Instead, it maintains a fixed proportion of metals, typically targeting 50% gold, 20% silver, 15% platinum, and 15% palladium.

The Trust operates with minimal human intervention and does not have a board of directors making investment decisions. Its primary function is to hold physical metals. The Trust sells metals only to cover the Sponsor's fees, facilitate large institutional redemptions, or manage other necessary expenses.

Financial Performance: GLTR's 2025 Highlights

GLTR experienced a remarkably strong year, driven by positive trends in precious metal markets.

• Significant Asset Growth: The total value of the precious metals held by the Trust, referred to as its "redeemable value," surged from approximately $1.04 billion at the end of 2024 to an impressive $2.58 billion by the close of 2025. This marks a substantial 148% increase in just one year.
• Increased Investor Interest: Reflecting this growth, the number of outstanding shares (the units investors own) expanded significantly, rising from 9.5 million shares at the end of 2024 to 12.5 million shares by the end of 2025. This indicates robust investor demand for GLTR.
• Net Asset Value (NAV) per Share: Based on these figures, the estimated NAV per share increased healthily, from roughly $109.47 at the end of 2024 to approximately $206.40 by the end of 2025. This translates to an 88.5% gain for the year, before accounting for expenses.
• Impact of Expenses: Operating costs (including the Sponsor's fees and other administrative expenses) reduce the ETF's overall returns.

GLTR's overall performance suggests a robust year for the precious metals it holds. For context, the LBMA Gold Price, a key benchmark, rose from $1,941 per ounce in 2023 to $2,386 per ounce in 2024, illustrating the upward momentum in the gold market that likely continued into 2025.

Management Discussion: Key Developments

On June 18, 2024, a notable operational adjustment occurred: the standard size of a "Basket" was reduced from 50,000 shares to 25,000 shares. A Basket represents a large block of shares that institutional investors use to create or redeem shares directly with the Trust. This change enhances flexibility and potentially simplifies position management for these large investors.

Broader Precious Metals Market Context (Up to 2024)

To fully appreciate GLTR's 2025 performance, it is helpful to understand the broader trends in the precious metals market:

• Strong Central Bank Demand: Globally, central banks consistently bought gold, increasing their holdings from 1,051 tonnes in 2023 to 1,089 tonnes in 2024. This signals enduring institutional confidence in gold as a reserve asset.
• Fluctuating ETF Demand: Investor demand for gold through ETFs like GLTR can vary. After a significant surge in 2020, demand slightly decreased in 2024, indicating that retail and institutional interest can ebb and flow.
• Overall Gold Demand: Total gold demand in 2024 totaled approximately 4,957 tonnes. Diverse sectors, including jewelry, technology, and investment, drove this demand, balancing the total supply. These trends provide a backdrop for the overall precious metals market.

Financial Health and Liquidity

As a grantor trust, GLTR does not engage in traditional business operations that generate revenue or incur debt. Its primary assets are the physical precious metals held in custody. The Trust maintains minimal cash balances, primarily for immediate operational expenses. Expenses, including the Sponsor's fees, are typically covered by periodically selling a small portion of the Trust's precious metal holdings.

The Trust derives its liquidity primarily from two sources: the highly liquid nature of the underlying precious metals markets and the ability of Authorized Participants to create and redeem Baskets of shares. This mechanism facilitates arbitrage and helps ensure that the market price of GLTR shares tracks its Net Asset Value (NAV).

Future Outlook and Strategy

As a passive investment vehicle, the Trust's strategy remains consistent: to track the performance of its diversified basket of physical precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, and palladium), after accounting for its operating expenses. The Trust does not actively manage or attempt to anticipate future price movements of the underlying metals.

GLTR's future performance depends solely on global supply and demand dynamics, geopolitical events, economic conditions, and other factors influencing the prices of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. The Sponsor continuously monitors the Trust's operational efficiency and the precious metals market to ensure the Trust continues to meet its objective.

Competitive Position

The abrdn Precious Metals Basket ETF Trust operates within a competitive landscape, offering various investment options for gaining exposure to precious metals. These include:

• Other Precious Metal ETFs: Single-metal ETFs (e.g., gold, silver, platinum, palladium ETFs) and other multi-metal or basket ETFs.
• Direct Physical Metal Ownership: Purchasing and storing physical bullion or coins.
• Derivatives: Futures contracts, options, and other financial instruments linked to precious metal prices.
• Mining Company Stocks: Investing in companies involved in precious metal extraction.

GLTR differentiates itself by offering a diversified basket of four physical precious metals within a single, easily tradable security. Its advantages include the transparency of its physical holdings, the convenience of an exchange-traded product, and potentially lower costs compared to direct physical ownership and storage. The Trust's fixed metal proportions and passive management appeal to investors seeking direct, diversified precious metals exposure without active trading decisions.

Risk Factors: Important Considerations

Like any investment, GLTR carries risks that investors should fully understand. The primary risk is market price volatility – the value of your investment can fluctuate significantly with the prices of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.

Beyond price fluctuations, other key risks include:

• Custody Risk: While the custodian (JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.) holds the metals in secure vaults, investors rely on this custodian, and there is a potential for loss, theft, or damage, despite safeguards. The distinction between 'allocated' and 'unallocated' bullion accounts is important here.
• Operational Risk: The Trust relies on its Sponsor, Trustee, and Administrator to function correctly. Any operational failures could impact the Trust.
• Liquidity Risk: While GLTR shares are highly liquid, the underlying physical metals market can experience periods of reduced liquidity, potentially affecting the Trust's ability to buy or sell metals efficiently.
• Expense Ratio Impact: Ongoing operating expenses will reduce your investment's net returns.
• Tracking Error: The ETF's performance may not perfectly match the combined price movements of its underlying metals due to expenses, market inefficiencies, or operational factors.
• No Income Generation: Unlike stocks or bonds, precious metals do not generate income (like dividends or interest); therefore, returns depend solely on price appreciation.
• Not a Diversifier from Metal Prices: Investing in GLTR does not diversify you from the inherent risks of precious metals themselves.

It is crucial to review the comprehensive "Risk Factors" section in the full 10-K report to understand all potential challenges and downsides that could affect your investment.

This summary offers a concise overview of GLTR's performance and key aspects for Fiscal Year 2025. For a complete and detailed understanding, always refer to the full SEC 10-K filing.