That contrasts with money managers, who cut their wagers on a rally to 117,151 futures and options in the week ended Dec. 20, from as many as 253,653 in August, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The hedge funds and other speculators are now the least bullish since May 2009, a month in which gold jumped 10 percent.

Paulson, the billionaire fund manager mired in the worst slump of his career, sold 36 percent of his stake in the SPDR Gold Trust in the third quarter, an SEC filing showed. New York- based Paulson & Co. remains the biggest investor in the largest gold-backed ETP, with a stake valued at $3.17 billion.

The 56-year-old manager's Gold Fund was this year's best performer among his $28 billion fund family through about mid- December, people familiar with the figures said last week. Redemption requests for the end of the year were about $2 billion, two people briefed on the matter said last month. Stefan Prelog, a spokesman, declined to comment.

'Rational' Buying

Soros Fund Management LLC, based in New York, sold almost all its shares in the SPDR Gold Trust and the iShares Gold Trust in the first quarter, SEC data show. Its 81-year-old founder, who made $1 billion breaking the Bank of England's defense of the pound in 1992, said in January 2010 that buying at the start of a bubble was "rational."

The fund's gold sales preceded a decision in July to return the less than $1 billion managed for outsiders and focus on family and foundation money. It bought more SPDR Gold Trust shares in the third quarter and added options, SEC data show. Michael Vachon, a spokesman, declined to comment.

"Gold became very overbought," said Charles Morris, who oversees about $2.2 billion of assets at HSBC Global Asset Management in London and cut his bullion holdings to 6 percent at the end of November from 15 percent six months ago. "It will at least consolidate following this almighty rally. When the new bull market arrives, maybe a year or so away from now, then gold will once again prove to be a leading asset."

Dennis Gartman, the economist and author of the Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter, said Dec. 13 that traders were witnessing the "death of a bull." He sold the last of his gold the previous day and said Dec. 23 his outlook was neutral. The "megatrend" in bullion is "in all likelihood near the end of the road," Markus Mezger, co-founder of Zug, Switzerland-based Tiberius Asset Management AG, which manages about $2.5 billion of assets, said in its 2012 outlook report on Dec. 23.

Eton Park Capital Management LP, founded by 44-year-old Mindich, sold the last of its SPDR Gold Trust shares in the third quarter, according to SEC data. The holding was valued at $135 million based on the average price over those three months. Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for the New York-based company, declined to comment.

Touradji Capital Management LP, led by its 40-year-old founder, sold all of its shares in the SPDR Gold Trust in the first three months of the year before buying back about 26 percent of that stake in the third quarter, the data show. Its largest holding in publicly traded equities remains Barrick Gold Corp., the world's biggest miner of the metal. Prelog, also a spokesman for Touradji, declined to comment.

"Gold is going to go higher, but it's not going to go in a straight line," said Martin Murenbeeld, the 67-year-old chief economist at Toronto-based DundeeWealth Inc., which manages about $100 billion in the Dynamic Mutual Funds. "Gold has given positive returns, but it doesn't necessarily do it in the way that gives comfort, and that makes people nervous."