Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
BITO vs GLD: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, BITO returned −30.5% to GLD's +2.5%, and GLD charges 0.40% to BITO's 0.95%.
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Net assets: $1.6bn on Oct 28, 2026 for ProShares Bitcoin ETF, and $135.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR Gold Shares.
Pair scorecard
GLD costs 0.55 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 33.0 points; GLD is far larger, $135.8bn against $1.6bn.
| Measure | BITO | GLD |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −30.5% | +2.5% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.7%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bitcoin futures and swaps on Bitcoin | Gold |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.95% | 0.40% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $1.6bn | $135.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
Side by side
BITO and GLD on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
BITO is a registered fund that reaches Bitcoin through what its N-PORT for Aug 31, 2026 lists: Bitcoin futures and swaps on Bitcoin. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, Bitcoin moved −28.3% and BITO returned −30.5%. That leaves it 2.2 percentage points behind. BITO is a registered investment company: it files a monthly N-PORT rather than a 10-K. Its N-PORT for Aug 31, 2026 puts 67.9% of its net assets in ProShares GENIUS Money Market ETF.
A holder gets exposure to Bitcoin without the fund holding the coin itself. That difference is the fee, the cost of rolling the futures from one month to the next, what the futures traded at against Bitcoin, and what the market paid for the shares, all of it together. It is the only number on this page the sponsor does not publish itself.
Its expense ratio is 0.40% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
GLD holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.5% with distributions reinvested, against +2.7% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.7% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Are BITO and GLD in the same category?
- BITO is a crypto futures ETF and GLD is a commodity ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, BITO or GLD?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BITO returned −30.5% and GLD +2.5%.
- Which is cheaper, BITO or GLD?
- GLD is cheaper, by 0.55 percentage points a year. That is about $55 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
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ETFIQ, BITO against GLD, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bito-vs-gld
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). BITO against GLD. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bito-vs-gld
[BITO against GLD (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bito-vs-gld)
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