Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
BND vs GDX: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, BND returned −1.3% to GDX's +19.0%, and BND charges 0.03% to GDX's 0.51%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about BND and GDX
Net assets: $161.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, and $25.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for VanEck Gold Miners ETF.
Pair scorecard
BND costs 0.48 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 20.3 points.
| Measure | BND | GDX |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −1.3% | +19.0% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.5%, high on Aug 6, 2020 | |
| Below its all-time high | 27.5%, high on Feb 27, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index | Gold miners |
| Against its benchmark, 1 year | ahead by 5.6 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.51% |
| Net assets, BND as of Sep 30, 2026 and GDX as of Oct 27, 2026 | $161.4bn | $25.6bn |
| Active share vs the S&P 500 | 100% | |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 12% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 60% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Apr 20, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,018 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: BND against AGG, Apr 20, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026; GDX against ACWI, Apr 4, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026.
GDX returned more: +133.5% to +75.5%. BND swung less: 5.0% to 38.6%. BND fell less at its worst: −18.4% to −79.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BND | GDX | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +75.5% | +133.5% | GDX | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +2.9% | +4.4% | GDX | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −5.4% | +93.4% | GDX | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 5.0% | 38.6% | BND | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 3.7% | 26.5% | BND | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −18.4% | −79.2% | BND | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 95.8% | 50.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 95.6% | 74.9% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.91 | 0.76 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.94 | 0.13 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.29 | 0.27 | BND (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.39 | 0.39 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.016 | 0.127 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.16 | 0.06 | BND | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | AGG | ACWI | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.2% a year | +3.4% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.59 | 0.41 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.7% | −13.0% to +19.9% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.03 | 0.04 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.3% | 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, 1,018 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, BND and GDX hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
BND and GDX on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
BND and GDX do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. BND follows Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index and GDX follows Gold miners.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 BND returned −1.3% and GDX +19.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 20.3 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
BND
BND tracks an index of US aggregate bonds. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −1.3% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, measured by the closely related Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. It sat 3.5% below its high of Aug 6, 2020 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 BND and GDX in the same category?
- BND is a bond 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, BND or GDX?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BND returned −1.3% and GDX +19.0%.
- Which is cheaper, BND or GDX?
- BND is cheaper, by 0.48 percentage points a year. That is about $48 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.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, BND against GDX, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-gdx
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). BND against GDX. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-gdx
[BND against GDX (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-gdx)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.