The sudden demise of a major gold trading platform has rocked the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, leaving tens of thousands of retail investors with combined losses totalling more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion), according to investors and domestic media reports.
Chinese retail investors have rushed to capitalise on the unprecedented rally in global gold prices in recent months, leading many to put their funds into the online metals trading platform JWR.
But as the gold spot price surged again over the past few weeks, a wave of customers tried to cash out their earnings, pushing the company into a liquidity crunch and leaving it unable to meet surging redemption requests.
Hundreds of investors gathered outside the company’s offices in Shenzhen over the weekend to demand their money back, prompting a police intervention to maintain order, according to videos posted by investors on social media.
Authorities in Shenzhen’s Luohu district announced on Wednesday that a task force had been set up to investigate abnormal business operations at JWR, financial news outlet Yicai reported.
The company’s unpaid funds may exceed 10 billion yuan, according to estimates compiled by investors cited by Yicai.
The incident has shaken confidence in Shenzhen’s Shuibei gold trading hub – widely regarded as the heart of China’s gold trading market – and underscored the mounting risks facing Chinese retail investors who have piled into unlicensed metals trading platforms amid a prolonged surge in gold and silver prices.
“I and many other investors have reported the case to police both in our home cities and in Shenzhen, and many people have gone to Shenzhen in person,” one user posted on the social platform RedNote, or Xiaohongshu.
“There are still many similar platforms in the market, and the risks are now very high.”
The firm’s liquidity crisis has been linked to its “pre-pricing” trading model, through which it attracted large numbers of retail investors via social media by promoting low-threshold, high-leverage gold and silver trades.
“Pre-priced” transactions are not facilitated via regulated precious metal exchanges. Instead, the platform privately agrees with investors on future gold and silver prices, with funds bypassing the public clearing system.
When gold and silver prices surge rapidly and investors collectively cash out their profits, platforms must swiftly raise substantial funds or arrange physical delivery. If the firm has not hedged sufficiently or kept enough capital in reserve, payment risks can rapidly escalate.
Chinese authorities have warned retail investors of the risks of trying to ride the gold rally in recent months, with several similar incidents already erupting in Shenzhen linked to online precious metals trading and pre-pricing models.
In October, the Shenzhen Gold and Jewellery Association issued a risk alert, revealing that several local gold material suppliers – operating under the guise of gold trading – were actually engaged in “non-physical gold betting” through online platforms. Authorities suspected the operations constituted illegal gambling, according to the notice.
“These cases have exposed how certain enterprises, in pursuit of illegal profits under the facade of physical gold trading, have induced clients to participate in high-leverage directional betting – essentially wagering on price rises or falls,” the industry alert said.
Deng Ping, a Guangzhou-based lawyer who has handled multiple private fundraising disputes, said the market was waiting for the government to investigate.
“The collapse of such private investment platforms has become significantly more frequent recently,” she said. “Two years ago, it was tea and cryptocurrencies, and now it’s precious metals.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
