China's largest ETF is now a gold fund, not a stock index tracker

For years, the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF was the undisputed heavyweight of China’s fund industry. It tracked the country’s benchmark equity index, it commanded hundreds of billions of yuan in assets, and it was the kind of product institutional investors parked money in almost reflexively. Then gold showed up and took its throne.

The Huaan Yifu Gold ETF has overtaken the CSI 300 fund to become the largest ETF in China by assets under management, according to Bloomberg. It is a notable milestone, and the story behind it says a lot about where Chinese investor sentiment currently sits.

The numbers behind the flip

The Huaan Gold ETF, trading under ticker 518880, has accumulated approximately 113.82 billion RMB, roughly $16.2 billion, in assets under management in early 2026.

The Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF peaked at over 400 billion RMB, approximately $58 billion, back in August 2025. Since then, the fund has absorbed redemptions totaling more than 283 billion yuan, or about $40 billion, leaving its AUM sitting at roughly 139 billion yuan, approximately $20 billion.