Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
CTA vs GLD: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, CTA returned +18.4% to GLD's +2.5%, and GLD charges 0.40% to CTA's 0.75%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $1.4bn for Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF and $135.8bn for SPDR Gold Shares.
Pair scorecard
GLD costs 0.35 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 15.9 points; GLD is far larger, $135.8bn against $1.4bn.
| Measure | CTA | GLD |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +18.4% | +2.5% |
| Total return, 52 weeks | +17.4% | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.7%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | not published | Gold |
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.6% | |
| Against cash | 13.7 points ahead | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.75% | 0.40% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $1.4bn | $135.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| Risk | ||
| Correlation with the S&P 500’s weekly returns | −0.19 | |
| Beta to the S&P 500 | −0.36: about 0.36% for each 1% | |
| Its average week when the S&P 500 fell | rose 0.40% | |
| Down-week capture | −36.1% | |
| Weeks the S&P 500 fell | 26 of 52, by 1.10% on average | |
Side by side
CTA and GLD on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
CTA
CTA is a managed futures fund. ETFIQ measures what every alternatives fund is sold on: whether it moves differently from the stock market. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of −0.19 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of −0.36, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.36% the other way. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.10% on average. In the same weeks CTA rose 0.40% on average, a down-week capture of −36.1%. Over the same 52 weeks CTA returned +17.4% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 13.7 percentage points ahead of cash.
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 CTA and GLD in the same category?
- CTA is an alternatives 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, CTA or GLD?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, CTA returned +18.4% and GLD +2.5%.
- Which is cheaper, CTA or GLD?
- GLD is cheaper, by 0.35 percentage points a year. That is about $35 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, CTA against GLD, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-gld
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). CTA against GLD. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-gld
[CTA against GLD (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-gld)
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