Reporting from China Times (chinatimes.net.cn) reporter Fu Le in Beijing
"I watched the price of gold drop for 40 minutes, and I checked my fingerprint at least more than 100 times. They were all buying the bottom, but they couldn't buy it, so they fell asleep." A post-00s investor shared.
Recently, some banks have experienced a situation where their accumulated funds cannot be purchased and transactions are booming. On February 3, Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry of Broadcom Analytics, told a reporter from China Times that this phenomenon is a short-term concentrated burst of transaction demand under the fluctuation of gold prices, which directly exceeds the carrying capacity of the banking system. Coupled with banks' active control of transaction rhythm, it is a phased problem at the operational level. It is not a problem with the underlying logic of the product or the systemic risk of the market, but the bank's ability to adapt to transaction peaks has not kept up in time.
The dilemma of “can’t buy”
The deposit purchase interface of a bank (picture provided by the interviewee)
Dongdong (pseudonym), who was born in 1989, works as a real estate agent in Shenzhen. On the evening of February 3, she told this reporter that she bought accumulated gold from a major bank a few days ago at an average price of about 1,190 yuan/gram, and successively bought one or two hundred grams, investing hundreds of thousands of yuan. "I couldn't buy it at the time, but I bought it later. After buying it, the price of gold fluctuated, and it has now fallen to about 1,090 yuan/gram."
"I just followed the trend. My bank friend told me that the gold market has been good in recent months, and the investment has yielded 20% returns. I didn't expect that I was trapped as soon as I bought it." Dongdong said bluntly that gold investment is risky and risky, and he will withdraw after he has recovered his capital.
Dongdong said that gold investment may lose principal and income in a short period of time, and is far less stable than real estate investment. Even if housing prices fall, there is still a house, but if gold falls, there will be nothing. Some of my friends have increased their leverage. Gold plummeted two days ago and I cry every day.
Netizen "Captain Yellow Croaker of the Caribbean" told our reporter that he began to understand gold when the gold price was 370 yuan/gram, and started to buy accumulated gold when the gold price was more than 400 yuan/gram. He also bought physical gold in banks, both long-term and short-term.
"More and more people are buying gold now. It's crazy. There are very few platforms that can trade 24 hours a day. I used to sell at high prices and buy them back at low prices. Now I can't buy them even if I buy them at low prices. There are too many people buying gold." said the above-mentioned netizen.
"When the price rises and plummets, it's easy to be unable to buy with the accumulated funds." A post-90s girl from Shanghai said that the accumulated funds that I wanted to buy at the bottom fell sharply to less than 1,000 yuan/gram in the afternoon. I wanted to buy it immediately, but I couldn't buy it, and I couldn't complete the transaction at all. Later, my friend said that he had placed an order, and I chased it all the way to 1,002 yuan/gram. The text message reminded me that the transaction was successful.
The reporter learned that when the deposit transaction failed, some bank pages displayed "Transactions are hot or the current transaction traffic has surged, please try again later", "There are too many visitors at the moment, please try later" and "Your request could not be processed. If you have any questions, please consult online customer service or call."
Another investor shared that he stayed up until the early hours of the morning trying to buy savings, but as a result, the banking system fell flat and he watched helplessly as he missed the opportunity to get on the bus. "It's understandable if you can't buy for a few minutes, but you still can't buy for half an hour."
"I lost my password for more than 30 minutes, and I couldn't buy it even if I broke it." A girl born in the 1990s shared that from 1,050 yuan/gram to 1,000 yuan/gram, I couldn't buy it every time it fell. Then the price went up again, so I "lost it" and stopped buying.
"Sometimes it's a good thing that you can't buy it. I kept buying it, and finally the transaction was successful at 1,007 yuan/gram, but it dropped to 991 yuan/gram. So it's a blessing in disguise," said an investor born in the 1990s.
Wang Pengbo said that the short-term transaction flow suddenly surged, directly exceeding the system processing limit. In addition, the bank proactively adjusted business access and transaction rules out of risk management and control considerations.
Talking about the current popularity of the gold accumulation business, Wang Pengbo believes that this is following the short-term fluctuations in gold prices. The overall situation will not remain at a peak for a long time, and will eventually return to a level that matches the market's regular investment needs. The bank will most likely raise business access thresholds, set transaction limits, adjust handling rates, and at the same time optimize its product system and launch some supporting gold derivatives to curb short-term transaction peaks.
Many banks have raised the minimum purchase amount of savings deposits
In the current investment scenario, savings funds have become a financial management choice favored by many ordinary investors due to the characteristics of "small accumulation and pricing per gram". In the context of the recent sharp fluctuations in gold prices, many banks have adjusted the minimum purchase amount of gold accumulation business and issued relevant investment risk warnings.
Industrial Bank issued an announcement stating that starting from February 4, 2026, the starting point for single purchase and new fixed investment purchase when trading by amount will be adjusted from RMB 1,200 to 1,400 yuan; when trading by weight, the starting point for single purchase and new fixed investment purchase will remain unchanged at 1 gram. The fixed investment plan that the customer has set up will be executed according to the original plan settings and will not be affected by the above adjustments; modifications to the original fixed investment plan must meet the adjusted transaction starting point amount limit.
Industrial Bank also reminded that the price fluctuations of precious metals have intensified significantly recently due to multiple factors. In order to prevent possible risks caused by market fluctuations, it is recommended that users keep an eye on the precious metal market and price trends, and reasonably control their positions based on their own financial status and risk tolerance. Improve risk prevention awareness, make prudent decisions, and invest rationally.
China Construction Bank said that starting from 9:10 on February 2, the starting point for regular accumulation of the bank's personal gold accumulation business (including average daily accumulation and optional daily accumulation) will be increased to 1,500 yuan. Regular accumulation plans that have been successfully set up before the adjustment will continue to be executed and will not be affected.
Starting from February 7, ICBC will implement limit management on the Ruyi Gold accumulation business on non-Shanghai Gold Exchange trading days such as weekends and statutory holidays. Limit types include full or single customer single-day accumulation/redemption limit, single accumulation or total redemption limit, etc., and are set dynamically, and gold withdrawals will not be affected.
In addition, starting from January 29, Ping An Bank has raised the minimum investment amount for its fixed investment plan based on the amount of Ping An Gold accumulation business from 1,100 yuan to 1,200 yuan.
In addition, some banks have adjusted the access requirements for risk assessment levels of accumulation fund business. For example, starting from January 12, individual customers of ICBC who open an account for the accumulation fund business, actively accumulate, or add a new fixed investment plan, must conduct a risk tolerance assessment according to the bank's unified risk assessment questionnaire through the bank's business outlets, online banking, or App, obtain a C3-balanced or above assessment result, and sign an accumulation fund risk disclosure letter.
The Bank of China issued a risk prevention reminder on January 30, reminding customers to carry out precious metal trading activities based on their own financial conditions and risk tolerance, reasonably control the size of precious metal positions, and prevent the risk of capital losses caused by fluctuations in precious metal prices.
Wang Pengbo suggested that regulators and banks should strengthen risk warnings and information disclosure, use professional channels to popularize gold investment knowledge, guide investors to participate in investments based on their own risk tolerance, and establish long-term asset allocation concepts to prevent investors from making emotional trading decisions due to short-term gold price fluctuations.
"In the future, the growth rate of the overall scale of the accumulated gold business will slow down. The industry will slowly shift from the previous scale-oriented to quality-oriented. The product side will also be designed in layers. Some structural products linked to gold may also be derived to adapt to investors with different risk preferences. The entire business is likely to move in the direction of standardization and differentiation." Wang Pengbo said.
