Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
AVUV vs GDX: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, AVUV returned +25.1% to GDX's +19.0%, and AVUV charges 0.25% to GDX's 0.51%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $32.1bn for Avantis U.S. Small Cap Value ETF and $25.6bn for VanEck Gold Miners ETF.
Pair scorecard
AVUV costs 0.26 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 6.1 points; AVUV is 1.3 times larger.
| Measure | AVUV | GDX |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +25.1% | +19.0% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.4%, high on Aug 4, 2026 | |
| Below its all-time high | 27.5%, high on Feb 27, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | No index, actively managed | Gold miners |
| Against its benchmark, 1 year | ahead by 5.6 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.25% | 0.51% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $32.1bn | $25.6bn |
| Active share vs the S&P 500 | 100% | |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 7.9% | 60% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Oct 4, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026 · 368 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: AVUV against IWN, Oct 4, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026; GDX against ACWI, Apr 4, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026.
GDX returned more: +212.2% to +180.4%. AVUV swung less: 27.5% to 40.2%. GDX fell slightly less at its worst: −46.5% to −48.5%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | AVUV | GDX | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +180.4% | +212.2% | GDX | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +15.7% | +17.5% | GDX | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +150.6% | +187.8% | GDX | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 27.5% | 40.2% | AVUV | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 18.9% | 27.1% | AVUV | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −48.5% | −46.5% | GDX (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 111.7% | 50.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.1% | 74.9% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.04 | 0.76 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.95 | 0.13 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.56 | 0.53 | AVUV (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.82 | 0.79 | AVUV (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.148 | 0.127 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.32 | 0.37 | GDX | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IWN | ACWI | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +4.3% a year | +3.4% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 1.91 | 0.41 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.1% to +8.7% | −13.0% to +19.9% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.79 | 0.04 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 6.1% | 36.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 368 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, AVUV and GDX hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
AVUV and GDX on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
AVUV and GDX do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. AVUV follows No index, actively managed and GDX follows Gold miners.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 AVUV returned +25.1% and GDX +19.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 6.1 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +25.1% with distributions reinvested, against +21.1% for its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Value.
AVUV is actively managed and tracks no index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.25% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 791 positions, with the top ten at 7.9%. It sat 4.4% below its high of Aug 4, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
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 AVUV and GDX in the same category?
- AVUV 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, AVUV or GDX?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AVUV returned +25.1% and GDX +19.0%.
- Which is cheaper, AVUV or GDX?
- AVUV is cheaper, by 0.26 percentage points a year. That is about $26 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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.
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ETFIQ, AVUV against GDX, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/avuv-vs-gdx
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). AVUV against GDX. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/avuv-vs-gdx
[AVUV against GDX (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/avuv-vs-gdx)
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