Larry Benedict Gold Skimming: Shocking Truth Revealed!

Larry Benedict Gold Skimming strategy is pitched as a way to potentially make far more from gold’s price swings than traditional buy‑and‑hold gold investing, using simple options on gold ETFs that you can trade in a regular brokerage account.

Gold has just smashed through the historic 5,000‑dollar‑an‑ounce mark, more than doubling in just a few years. It has outpaced stocks, bonds, and even real estate, becoming the best‑performing major asset class in the world over the past two years. Yet despite this extraordinary run, most individual investors are still using the slowest, least efficient way to profit from gold: buying it and hoping it goes up.

Former hedge fund manager Larry Benedict says that’s a mistake. According to him, there is a better way to make money from gold’s wild moves—without buying a single ounce of the metal, without owning gold funds or miners, and without tying up large amounts of capital for months or years. He calls it “Gold Skimming.”

In this in‑depth report, we’ll unpack what Gold Skimming really is, why Benedict believes it’s superior to traditional gold investing, how his three‑step method works, and what role his One Ticker Trader research service plays in delivering these trades to ordinary investors.

Who Is Larry Benedict – And Why Listen To Him?

Before you consider any trading strategy, the first question is obvious: why trust the person behind it? In Larry Benedict’s case, the track record is unusually strong.

Benedict is a former hedge fund manager whose firm, Banyan Capital, was ranked in the top 1% of hedge funds worldwide by Barron’s. During one brutal year when the S&P 500 fell 37%, he personally pocketed 95 million dollars in profits. Jack Schwager, the author of the famed “Market Wizards” series, devoted an entire chapter to Benedict in Hedge Fund Market Wizards, placing him in the company of billionaire legends like Ray Dalio and Joel Greenblatt.

Oil barons, Wall Street banks, and even royal family members have paid millions of dollars for Benedict’s trading ideas. Over his career, those ideas generated more than a quarter of a billion dollars in cash profits at his fund.

Today, rather than running money for institutions, he runs a research service called One Ticker Trader. Through it, he shares the same style of ETF‑ and options‑based strategies he once used for hedge‑fund clients, now distilled and simplified for individual investors.

That professional background—and the fact that he has traded through virtually every major market environment over four decades—is a big part of why his Gold Skimming concept has attracted attention.

The Gold Boom Nobody Wants To Miss

To understand why Gold Skimming exists at all, you have to understand what’s happening in the gold market right now.

Gold has surged past 5,000 dollars an ounce for the first time in history. Over the last few years it has more than doubled, driven by a mixture of geopolitical turmoil, central bank buying, and concerns over the future of the U.S. dollar. There is an ongoing war in the Middle East, global tensions remain high, and central banks have been accumulating gold “hand over fist.”

The flow of money into gold markets has exploded. On average, about 361 billion dollars moved through the gold market each day in 2025—roughly four times the daily volume of the New York Stock Exchange. Since then, Benedict notes, the flow has been even higher.

Major institutions have started issuing aggressive price targets. JPMorgan suggested gold could hit 6,300 dollars by the end of the year. Bank of America floated the possibility of 8,000 dollars per ounce next year. Economist Ed Yardeni has mentioned a potential 10,000‑dollar gold price by 2030.

In 2025 alone, gold soared 65%, while the S&P 500 returned 18%. A 5,000‑dollar investment in gold would have earned about 3,250 dollars across that year, compared with approximately 900 dollars from the same amount in a broad stock market index.

So the obvious question arises: if gold has been so powerful, why not simply buy gold and sit on it?

The Problem With Traditional Gold Investing

Most investors’ gold strategy is simple: buy some coins, bars, or a gold ETF, then wait. They earn no dividends. They generate no regular income. They only profit if the metal goes up—and they often have to wait months or years to see meaningful gains.

This approach presents several challenges:

• Capital is tied up in a non‑yielding asset for long stretches.

• Returns depend entirely on gold moving higher.

• Volatility can be psychologically painful when the metal “zigzags,” even if the long‑term trend is up.

Benedict doesn’t deny that traditional gold investors have made money. “Anyone holding gold has made a lot of money over the last few years,” he says. But he insists there is now a more efficient way to harness the very same price moves—one that can work whether gold rallies or sells off.

That’s where Gold Skimming comes in.

What Is “Gold Skimming”?

Gold Skimming is Benedict’s name for a specific options‑based strategy applied to gold ETFs. Instead of owning gold outright, you attempt to “skim” profits off the large amounts of money flowing into and out of the gold market, using carefully selected options trades.

The basic premise is simple:

• Whenever money pours into gold, prices move.

• Whenever money rushes out, prices move.

• Those price moves—up or down—can drive much larger percentage gains in options than in the underlying metal.

Benedict claims his followers have been able to “skim” 11‑times, 23‑times, and even 39‑times more than regular gold investors made on the same underlying moves. Put differently, for every 1,000 dollars a buy‑and‑hold gold investor may have gained or lost, a well‑timed skim could theoretically produce 11,000, 23,000, or 39,000 dollars in profit—if the trade goes your way.

Importantly, this is not the kind of “skimming” you might associate with illegal trading practices. Benedict is clear that his approach is 100% legal and executable in an ordinary brokerage account at firms like Schwab, Fidelity, or TD Ameritrade.

The “shocking” element is not that it exploits some loophole, but that it flips the traditional logic of gold investing on its head. With Gold Skimming:

• You do not need to own gold.

• You do not need gold to rise.

• You can potentially profit during rallies and during sharp sell‑offs.

All you need is what Benedict calls “money flow”—the constant surge of capital in and out of the gold market that creates price movement.

How Massive Money Flows Create Skimming Opportunities

The fuel behind Gold Skimming is the extraordinary amount of money moving through gold markets every single day. As noted earlier, daily flows recently averaged 361 billion dollars—four times the New York Stock Exchange.

A major part of this surge comes from gold ETFs, or exchange‑traded funds. These funds track the real‑time price of gold but trade just like stocks. The largest gold ETF recently saw three record‑breaking inflow days in a row—more money entered on each of those days than any day in its history.

In 2025 alone, investors poured 89 billion dollars into gold ETFs—by far the largest annual inflow ever. This wave of capital doesn’t sit still; it causes frequent, sometimes violent, price swings in the ETF shares, and by extension in gold itself.

To a long‑term gold holder, that volatility is just noise they have to endure. To a trader like Benedict, it is opportunity. The more intense the flows, the bigger and faster the price moves—and the larger the potential options gains when they’re timed correctly.

The Tools Behind Gold Skimming: Gold ETFs And Options

At the heart of Gold Skimming are two simple instruments:

1. Gold ETFs – Funds that mirror the price of gold and trade like regular stocks.

2. Options on those ETFs – Contracts that can multiply gains (and losses) from relatively small underlying price moves.

Benedict has spent decades trading ETFs and options, using them as core tools at his hedge fund. He routinely traded major index ETFs such as the S&P 500 (SPY) and the Nasdaq QQQ. Gold Skimming simply adapts that experience to gold‑linked ETFs, overlaying a specialized system of indicators to pinpoint when money flows are likely to drive short‑term moves.

The idea is that when gold moves 2–5% in either direction, properly chosen ETF options can sometimes rise 100%, 1,000%, or more. That leverage is what makes it possible, in theory, to turn a modest 5,000‑dollar position into gains like 2,975, 3,781, or 6,786 dollars in a matter of days, according to the case studies Benedict cites.

Of course, options also magnify losses, which is why Benedict emphasizes risk‑management and a rules‑based system of signals rather than random speculation.

Real‑World Case Studies: When Gold Investors Lost, Skimmers Won

To illustrate how Gold Skimming works in practice, Benedict walks through a series of case studies. These are specific historical trades where his followers received alerts and had the chance to participate.

Here are some of the examples he highlights:

• Gold rallies 4.6% in 11 days

  • A traditional gold investor putting 5,000 dollars into gold could have made about 230 dollars.

  • Benedict’s followers, using his options approach, had the chance to skim 3,674 dollars from the same move—more than 16‑times the return.

• Gold falls 3.8% in five days

  • A 5,000‑dollar gold position would have lost roughly 188 dollars.

  • A Gold Skimming trade on that same move gave Benedict’s followers the opportunity to make 6,786 dollars in profit in just five days.

• Gold drops 4.4% in one day

  • An investor owning 5,000 dollars’ worth of gold would have lost about 218 dollars.

  • Benedict says his followers could have skimmed 5,145 dollars from that decline in a single day using a put option on a gold ETF.

• Gold drifts up just 1.66%

  • A buy‑and‑hold gold owner might have earned around 83 dollars on a 5,000‑dollar position.

  • Benedict’s followers were able to skim 3,240 dollars from that modest move.

• Gold rallies 5.3% after a signal

  • A 5,000‑dollar gold holding could have produced 263 dollars in profit.

  • A skimming trade based on Benedict’s indicators produced a 2,975‑dollar payout—a roughly 11‑to‑1 advantage.

Across all of his Gold Skimming recommendations so far, Benedict says his followers have seen the strategy work about 73% of the time, with 19 winning skims averaging 2,259 dollars each, and a cumulative total of 42,920 dollars in potential profits from the gold market.

He freely admits these are some of his best‑performing examples and that nothing is guaranteed. The key point, however, is that these trades do not require gold to rise. They only require movement, powered by money flows.

The Three‑Step Gold Skimming Method

Although Benedict’s full system uses 19 core indicators he calls “Skim Signals,” he boils the process down to three simple steps for ordinary investors.

Step 1: Confirm The Trend

The first step is to confirm whether gold is more likely to move up or down in the near term. Benedict uses a combination of metrics—such as daily and weekly trading volume, and volume deltas over 10‑ and 20‑day windows—to understand how money is flowing into or out of gold.

The final piece of this first step is something he calls the “confirmation cross,” which most people can visualize on a chart:

• A blue line tracks the current price of gold.

• A red line tracks the trend in gold’s price.

When the two lines cross in a specific way, Benedict treats that as confirmation that a move is underway. For example, when the gold price line crosses up through the trend line, it may signal an impending rally; when it crosses down through the trend line, it may indicate a coming decline.

Only after this confirmation does he consider a skim trade.

Step 2: Buy The Appropriate Option

Once Benedict’s system confirms whether gold is likely to move up or down, the second step is to buy the option that best expresses that view on a gold ETF.

• If the system signals an uptrend, he looks to buy call options on a gold ETF.

• If it signals a downtrend, he uses put options instead.

These are listed options that can be traded through an ordinary brokerage account. For many investors, placing the trade is similar in complexity to buying or selling a stock, although the mechanics of options—strike prices, expirations, and so on—are different.

Because options are leveraged instruments, a relatively small move in gold—say 2–5%—can, in favorable conditions, produce far larger percentage gains in the option. That’s the foundation of the “skim”: you are turning short‑term volatility into potentially outsized gains, without tying up the full capital that would be required to own gold outright.

Step 3: Sell The Option And Take Your Skim

The third step is straightforward: when the move has played out—as signaled by Benedict’s system—you sell the option and “take your skim.”

In practice, Benedict provides precise instructions via email and his mobile app. Those alerts include:

• The specific gold ETF options contract (ticker, strike, expiration).

• Guidance on when to enter.

• Guidance on when to exit and take profits (or cut losses).

According to Benedict, executing the trade and closing it out often takes just a few minutes of actual work, though the monitoring and research behind each alert is done on his side.

The 19 “Skim Signals”: More Than Just One Indicator

While the three‑step process is intentionally simple, the engine behind it involves a more complex web of 19 indicators. Benedict calls these his “Skim Signals.”

They include measures such as:

• Daily gold trading volume.

• Weekly gold trading volume.

• 10‑day and 20‑day volume deltas (changes in volume over time).

These inputs work together to do two things:

1. Reduce risk by filtering out weak or ambiguous setups.

2. Pinpoint moments when money flows are most likely to create sharp moves in gold and gold ETFs.

The confirmation cross is the last of these signals—Benedict stresses that no serious strategy should rely on a single indicator, no matter how powerful it seems on its own. It’s the combination of all 19 that creates the confidence to send an actionable alert to his followers.

Why Gold Skimming Feels “Almost Illegal”

Many investors have an intuitive skepticism about strategies that sound too simple or too lucrative. Benedict addresses this head‑on: he acknowledges that Gold Skimming can feel “almost illegal” because of how dramatic the gains can be compared to traditional gold investing.

But he emphasizes several points:

• The strategy is fully legal and uses standard listed options on regulated ETFs.

• It can be executed from a regular brokerage account that allows options trading.

• It does not involve market manipulation or insider information; it simply anticipates and exploits the impacts of large, observable money flows.

To reinforce its legitimacy, Benedict holds up his own professional history in options trading, which began in the pits of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and extended through decades of ETF‑based strategies at his hedge fund.

The “shocking truth” isn’t that the method breaks any rules—it’s that a sizable portion of gold’s rally and sell‑offs can potentially be captured, and even amplified, with far less capital at risk than buying and holding the metal itself.

Risk, Rewards, And Realistic Expectations

Like any options‑based strategy, Gold Skimming carries risk. Positions can expire worthless. Trades can move against you quickly. Even a robust system with a historical win rate of around 73% will have losing trades.

Benedict is clear about several risk factors:

• The examples he shares are among his best performers; they do not represent every trade.

• Past performance of his One Ticker Trader recommendations, including a reported 247% gain from 1,000 dollars invested in all recommendations since 2022, does not guarantee future results.

• Investors should never risk more than they can afford to lose.

One important mitigating factor is that with listed options, your maximum risk is generally limited to the premium you pay for the contract. That means you can define your risk up front, whether that’s a few hundred dollars or more, depending on your account size and appetite.

Benedict’s system is designed not to chase lottery‑ticket trades but to target consistent skims—hundreds or thousands of dollars—over and over again when the conditions line up. The large, dramatic wins he highlights (such as 6,786 dollars in five days) are the upper end of what’s possible, not the baseline expectation.

Why This Moment May Be Unique For Gold Skimming

Benedict argues that the current environment is unusually favorable for his Gold Skimming strategy.

Several forces are converging:

• Gold has already delivered exceptional returns and remains the best‑performing major asset class in recent years.

• Central banks and large institutions are still buying aggressively.

• Geopolitical risk remains elevated, with conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere.

• The dollar faces ongoing pressure, supporting gold’s appeal as a hedge.

• Gold ETFs are seeing record‑breaking inflows, creating strong, persistent money flows.

Benedict’s earlier gold skims were executed when gold was around 1,800 dollars an ounce. Now, with prices much higher and flows much larger, he believes the potential size of future skims could exceed anything his system has previously seen.

When you combine that with the fact that the strategy can profit whether gold rises or falls, he views this as a historically compelling window for Gold Skimming.

How One Ticker Trader Fits In

Gold Skimming is not a standalone “black box” subscription. Instead, Benedict delivers his gold skimming trades through his broader research service, One Ticker Trader.

One Ticker Trader is designed to give subscribers:

• High‑conviction trade recommendations based on the same institutional‑grade ETF and options strategies Benedict used at his hedge fund.

• Opportunities not just in gold, but also in index ETFs like the Nasdaq QQQ, the S&P 500, and even energy‑related ETFs such as oil.

• Full buy and sell instructions, written for readers who may have never traded options before.

As part of a special offer tied to this Gold Skimming presentation, Benedict has decided to send his gold skim trades to One Ticker Trader members at no additional cost, as a bonus.

In other words, by joining One Ticker Trader, you don’t just get the Gold Skimming alerts. You also receive Benedict’s best ideas across the broader market, delivered by email and mobile app whenever he sees a high‑probability setup.

What You Get When You Join

In the presentation you provided, Benedict and host Kim Moening lay out the full package offered to new One Ticker Trader subscribers.

Here’s what it includes:

• Gold Skimming Email Alerts (Bonus)
  Whenever Benedict identifies a new skimming opportunity, he sends out an email alert—and a notification through a mobile app for iOS and Android—complete with the ticker, option details, and step‑by‑step instructions.

• A Full Year Of One Ticker Trader Research
  Subscribers receive Benedict’s highest‑conviction trade ideas across ETFs and options beyond gold. Some months there may be two or three trade recommendations; others, there may be one. The goal for each is a “sizeable windfall,” not small incremental gains.

• The Gold Skimming Blueprint (Special Report)
  This report lays out the Gold Skimming strategy from start to finish: how the system works, what the indicators mean, and how to find and execute skims on your own if you wish. Even if you’re new to trading, it is written in straightforward language.

• Larry’s Guide To Options (Special Report)
  A beginner‑friendly guide to options trading “Larry’s way,” covering how options work, how he uses them to manage risk, and how to apply them to gold ETFs, QQQ, SPY, and similar vehicles. The aim is to make options as approachable as buying and selling stocks.

• Mobile App Access
  Alerts are also sent through a cell‑phone app, so you can receive them on the go. This reduces the risk of missing time‑sensitive opportunities.

• 30‑Day Satisfaction Guarantee
  Benedict’s publisher backs the offer with a 30‑day satisfaction guarantee. If the service doesn’t meet your expectations for any reason, you can contact customer service by phone or email and request a full refund within that window.

In terms of pricing, the standard annual retail price of One Ticker Trader is 499 dollars. In this specific promotion, Benedict offers a more than 95% discount, allowing new members to start for just 19 dollars—roughly five cents per day. He notes that this pricing is not guaranteed to remain available indefinitely; his publisher can raise it at any time without notice.

Who Is Gold Skimming For?

Gold Skimming is not for everyone. It involves options, fast‑moving markets, and the willingness to accept both wins and losses. That said, Benedict and Moening sketch out the type of person who might benefit the most.

Gold Skimming may appeal to you if:

• You feel “stuck on the sidelines” of the gold boom, owning some gold but frustrated that it just sits there producing no income.

• You’re interested in a strategy that can potentially profit when gold goes up or down, driven by volatility rather than direction.

• You want professional‑grade analysis but don’t have time to watch charts all day or manage complex systems yourself.

• You’re willing to learn the basics of options trading with guided help and clearly written instructions.

• You are comfortable risking only capital you can afford to lose and like the idea of pre‑defining your maximum loss via the option premium.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a guaranteed income stream, are unwilling to tolerate volatility, or strongly prefer passive, long‑term investing, this approach may not fit your temperament—no matter how compelling the past case studies appear.

The Bigger Picture: From Hedge Fund “P On The Page” To Everyday Traders

In the closing portion of the presentation, Benedict shares a glimpse into his mindset. When he ran his hedge fund, his daily goal was simple: put a “P” on the page—“P” for profit—every single day, regardless of what the markets or the news were doing.

That mentality—seeking consistent, repeatable wins, rather than chasing giant one‑off scores—underpins the philosophy behind One Ticker Trader and Gold Skimming. The aim is to empower ordinary investors with the kind of systematic, risk‑conscious trading approach that used to be available only to institutions and ultra‑wealthy clients.

With the gold market experiencing arguably the most explosive conditions in its history, Benedict believes the “best is still ahead.” For investors willing to explore options and learn a structured way to trade gold’s moves, his Gold Skimming strategy—delivered through One Ticker Trader—offers a path to attempt precisely that.

Should You Consider Subscribing To One Ticker Trader?

Ultimately, deciding whether to try Benedict’s research service comes down to your goals, risk tolerance, and interest in tactical trading.

Here are a few practical points to weigh:

• Cost vs. Potential Upside
  The current promotional price of 19 dollars for a full year of One Ticker Trader, plus Gold Skimming alerts and both special reports, is modest compared with many premium trading services, which can run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars per year.

• Educational Value
  Even if you don’t act on many trades, the Gold Skimming Blueprint and Larry’s Guide to Options may provide a solid education in ETF‑ and options‑based trading from someone with a long institutional track record.

• Risk Controls
  Because options risk is limited to the premium, you can size trades according to your comfort level, whether that’s a few hundred dollars or more. The service gives explicit instructions, which is especially helpful for newer traders.

• Refund Window
  The 30‑day satisfaction guarantee means you can review the research, read the reports, and evaluate the quality of alerts with the option to back out if it’s not for you.

If you’re intrigued by the idea of turning gold’s volatility into targeted, short‑term profit opportunities—and you’re comfortable with the risks of options—testing One Ticker Trader during this discounted period could be a reasonable way to see whether Gold Skimming fits your trading toolkit.

As with any strategy, discipline, position sizing, and realistic expectations are essential. But for investors who want more than just sitting on bullion and hoping for higher prices, Larry Benedict’s Gold Skimming approach offers a distinctly different way to engage with one of the world’s oldest and most emotionally charged assets.

FAQ: Larry Benedict Gold Skimming