Hedge funds are holding the first ever bet on a decline in gold prices since the U.S. government started collecting the data in 2006.

The funds and other speculators shifted to a net-short position of 11,345 contracts in New York futures and options in the week ended July 21, according to figures from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Gold futures on Friday fell to the lowest since 2010 on the Comex, and the short wagers show investors expect the rout to deepen.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Jeffrey Currie says the worst is yet to come for gold, and that prices could fall below $1,000 an ounce for the first time since 2009. "The risks are clearly skewed to the downside," Currie, the bank's New York-based head of commodities research, said in a phone interview Tuesday.