Are ACWI and GDX in the same category?

ACWI is a stock ETF and GDX is a thematic ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.

Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or GDX?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and GDX +19.0%.

Which is cheaper, ACWI or GDX?

ACWI is cheaper, by 0.19 percentage points a year. That is about $19 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do ACWI and GDX overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 12% of GDX by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

ACWI vs GDX: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, ACWI returned +13.4% to GDX's +19.0%, and ACWI charges 0.32% to GDX's 0.51%.

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Net assets: $33.0bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI ACWI ETF, and $25.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for VanEck Gold Miners ETF.

ACWI on its own →GDX on its own →

At a glance

+13.4%

ACWI total return, 1 year

+19.0%

GDX total return, 1 year

0.32%

ACWI expense ratio

0.51%

GDX expense ratio

Pair scorecard

ACWI costs 0.19 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.6 points; ACWI is 1.3 times larger.

ACWI vs GDX: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	GDX
Return
Measure	ACWI	GDX
Total return, 1 year	+13.4%	+19.0%
Drawdown
Measure	ACWI	GDX
Below its all-time high		27.5%, high on Feb 27, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	ACWI	GDX
What it tracks	MSCI ACWI	Gold miners
Cost and size
Measure	ACWI	GDX
Expense ratio	0.32%	0.51%
Net assets, as of Oct 23, 2026	$32.4bn	$24.7bn
Active share vs the S&P 500		100%
Holdings
Measure	ACWI	GDX
Holdings in common	1%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.9%	60%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method

Risk and return

Apr 4, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026 · 968 weekly returns

ACWI GDX

Return

Total return edge ACWI +333.1% +91.5%

Annualized edge ACWI +8.2% +3.6%

Price return edge ACWI +204.7% +64.0%

Risk

Volatility edge ACWI 18.5% 38.8%

Max drawdown edge ACWI −55.3% −79.2%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge ACWI 0.44 0.25

Sortino edge ACWI 0.62 0.36

Calmar edge ACWI 0.15 0.04

Reading

ACWI returned more: +333.1% to +91.5%. ACWI swung less: 18.5% to 38.8%. ACWI fell less at its worst: −55.3% to −79.2%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: ACWI vs GDX: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	GDX	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+333.1%	+91.5%	ACWI	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+8.2%	+3.6%	ACWI	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+204.7%	+64.0%	ACWI	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	18.5%	38.8%	ACWI	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	13.2%	26.5%	ACWI	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−55.3%	−79.2%	ACWI	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.44	0.25	ACWI	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.62	0.36	ACWI	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.15	0.04	ACWI	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 968 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, ACWI and GDX hold 1% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

1% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first ACWI GDX

NEWMONT 0.12% 11.42%

LOREAL SA 0.11% 0.67%

AGNICO EAGLE MINES 0.09% 11.45%

BARRICK MINING 0.06% 8.07%

WHEATON PRECIOUS METALS 0.06% 5.50%

ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI PLC 0.04% 4.78%

FRANCO NEVADA 0.04% 5.33%

GOLD FIELDS 0.03% 3.96%

KINROSS GOLD 0.03% 3.88%

EVOLUTION MINING 0.02% 1.51%

NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES LTD 0.02% 3.25%

PAN AMERICAN SILVER 0.02% 2.61%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in ACWI

APPLE 4.97%

NVIDIA 4.89%

MICROSOFT 3.66%

AMAZON.COM INC 2.39%

ALPHABET CLASS A 1.83%

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 1.77%

BROADCOM INC 1.51%

ALPHABET CLASS C 1.44%

Only in GDX

Royal Gold Inc 2.14%

Industrias Penoles Sab De Cv 1.35%

First Majestic Silver Corp 1.19%

Hecla Mining Co 1.18%

G Mining Ventures Corp 1.00%

B2gold Corp 0.97%

Dundee Precious Metals Inc 0.94%

Oceanagold Corp 0.88%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

ACWI iShares MSCI ACWI ETF GDX VanEck Gold Miners ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Thematic ETF

Issuer iShares VanEck

What it is Tracks the MSCI ACWI Gold miners

Total return, 1 year +13.4% +19.0%

Its benchmark over the same days not measured +13.4% (ACWI)

Gap to its benchmark not measured +5.6 pts vs ACWI

Expense ratio 0.32% 0.51%

Already in the S&P 500 60.9% 11.7%

Holdings 2197 59

Net assets, ACWI as of Oct 28, 2026 and GDX as of Oct 27, 2026 $33.0bn $25.6bn

ACWI and GDX on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-18A45E4238

ACWI and GDX do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. ACWI follows MSCI ACWI and GDX follows Gold miners.
Holdings in common. 1% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 ACWI returned +13.4% and GDX +19.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 5.6 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

ACWI

ACWI tracks the MSCI ACWI. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.32% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 61% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,197 positions, with the top ten at 24.9%.

GDX

By weight, 12% of GDX's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 100%. The top ten holdings are 60% of the fund across 59 positions, as published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 the fund returned +19.0% with distributions reinvested against +13.4% for its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Index, so a holder was ahead by 5.6 pts. It sits 27.5% below its all-time high of Feb 27, 2026.

Questions people ask

Are ACWI and GDX in the same category?: ACWI is a stock ETF and GDX is a thematic ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or GDX?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and GDX +19.0%.
Which is cheaper, ACWI or GDX?: ACWI is cheaper, by 0.19 percentage points a year. That is about $19 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ACWI and GDX overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 12% of GDX by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ACWI vs AIRR ACWI vs LYTE ACWI vs IBB ACWI vs XBI GDX vs VT EEM vs GDX AVEM vs GDX EWY vs GDX

Where to next

ACWI on its own →GDX on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →ACWI dividend history →ACWI holdings →GDX dividend history →GDX holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

ACWI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

ACWI prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for ACWI ↗

GDX filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

GDX prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

VanEck website ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, ACWI against GDX, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/acwi-vs-gdx

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.