Gold’s sharp decline from its record high of $1,924 an ounce last September has some investors devising ways to profit from a rebound.

Some are using option plays and others are establishing or increasing positions in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that hold gold, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Thursday’s gold market would seem to validate their sentiments, with gold gaining 1.4 percent to $1,570.

Many of the bulls are banking that the financial crisis in Europe will weigh on U.S. economic growth, pushing the Federal Reserve to go for a new round of quantitative easing.

That in turn will ignite fears of inflation, pushing investors to gold as a safe haven, the thinking goes.

"Prior to April and May, people had assumed that the probability of quantitative easing was reduced because of the strength in the U.S. economy," hurting gold prices, Stuart Quint, senior investment manager at Brinker Capital, tells the Journal.

"We think the odds have gone up because of the turmoil in Europe and the weaker data from the U.S." Brinker increased its holdings of gold-backed ETFs by 700 percent in the first quarter.

ETFs are playing a critical role for both individual and institutional investors.

“Gold ETF investors have responded with remarkable calm to the price turbulence,” Commerzbank says in a report obtained by Bloomberg. “A number of them already appear to be taking advantage of the weak price to expand their positions.”