Which is cheaper, BGLD or GLD?

BGLD charges 0.91% a year and GLD charges 0.40%, so GLD is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Are BGLD and GLD the same kind of fund?

No. BGLD is a buffer ETF and GLD is an index ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

Data as of Sep 12, 2026. Both funds on the fields they both publish, from the same sources.

ETFIQetfiq.com · independent ETF data

BGLD vs GLD: how they differ

BGLD and GLD are measured over different days, and GLD charges 0.40% against 0.91%.

FT Vest Gold Strategy Quarterly Buffer ETF and SPDR Gold Shares.

BGLD and GLD on the fields both publish, as of Sep 12, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	BGLD FT Vest Gold Strategy Quarterly Buffer ETF	GLD SPDR Gold Shares
Where it sits	Buffer ETF	Core index fund
Issuer	First Trust	State Street
What it is	Defined outcome, 5% to 15% on GLD	Gold
Total return, 1 year	not published	+19.1%
S&P 500 over the same days	not published	+17.5%
Gap to the S&P 500	not available	+1.6 pts
Expense ratio	0.91%	0.40%

BGLD in plain words

From its price on Sep 12, 2026, the fund can gain about 10.9% more before it reaches its cap. The fund's price can fall 4.0% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's figure. In index terms, GLD can fall 2.7% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 10.0% of the 10.0% buffer still sits below today's GLD level. 80 days remained on Sep 12, 2026. On Nov 30, 2026 the period ends and a new cap is set.

GLD in plain words

GLD is a commodity fund tracking the Gold. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +19.1% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.40% a year. It sat 19.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Sep 11, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which is cheaper, BGLD or GLD?: BGLD charges 0.91% a year and GLD charges 0.40%, so GLD is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Are BGLD and GLD the same kind of fund?: No. BGLD is a buffer ETF and GLD is an index ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

Other comparisons

Where to next

Where these figures came from

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.

BGLD against GLD, ETFIQ, data as of Sep 12, 2026. Every figure is arithmetic on a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page. ETFIQ, BGLD against GLD, data as of Sep 12, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/BGLD-GLD Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources