Data as of Sep 4, 2026. Both funds on the fields they both publish, from the same sources.
GLD vs SPY
SPDR Gold Shares and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
| GLD SPDR Gold Shares | SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | Core fund | Core fund |
| Issuer | State Street | State Street |
| What it is | Gold | S&P 500, book from IVV |
| Total return, 1 year | +24.5% | +20.0% |
| S&P 500 over the same days | +20.0% | +20.0% |
| Gap to the S&P 500 | +4.5 pts | +0.0 pts |
| Expense ratio | not published | not published |
| Holdings | n/a | 504 |
GLD in plain words
GLD is a commodity fund tracking Gold. Over the year to Sep 4, 2026 it returned +24.5% with distributions reinvested, against +20.0% for the S&P 500 and +25.6% for the Nasdaq-100. It sat 18.0% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Sep 4, 2026.
SPY in plain words
SPY is a index equity fund tracking S&P 500, book from IVV. Over the year to Sep 4, 2026 it returned +20.0% with distributions reinvested, against +20.0% for the S&P 500 and +25.6% for the Nasdaq-100. By its holdings filed for Jun 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 36.4%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, GLD or SPY?
- In the year to Sep 4, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLD returned +24.5% and SPY returned +20.0%, so GLD returned more. One year is one year; the longer windows are in the table.
Other comparisons
Where to next
Cite this page. ETFIQ, GLD against SPY, data as of Sep 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/GLD-SPY.html Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.
A comparison is not a recommendation. ETFIQ publishes the same fields for every fund and suggests no allocation. Standards and sources