Are EEM and GDX in the same category?

EEM 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, EEM or GDX?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EEM returned +16.3% and GDX +19.0%.

Which is cheaper, EEM or GDX?

GDX is cheaper, by 0.21 percentage points a year. That is about $21 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

By their latest filed holdings, 0% of EEM and 12% of GDX by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

EEM vs GDX: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, EEM returned +16.3% to GDX's +19.0%, and GDX charges 0.51% to EEM's 0.72%.

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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $29.1bn for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF and $25.6bn for VanEck Gold Miners ETF.

EEM on its own →GDX on its own →

At a glance

+16.3%

EEM total return, 1 year

+19.0%

GDX total return, 1 year

0.72%

EEM expense ratio

0.51%

GDX expense ratio

Pair scorecard

GDX costs 0.21 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.7 points; EEM is 1.1 times larger.

EEM vs GDX: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	EEM	GDX
Return
Measure	EEM	GDX
Total return, 1 year	+16.3%	+19.0%
Drawdown
Measure	EEM	GDX
Below its high	10.8%, high on Jun 22, 2026
Below its all-time high		27.5%, high on Feb 27, 2026
Against its benchmark
Measure	EEM	GDX
What it tracks	MSCI Emerging Markets Index	Gold miners
Against its benchmark, 1 year		ahead by 5.6 pts
Cost and size
Measure	EEM	GDX
Expense ratio	0.72%	0.51%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$29.1bn	$25.6bn
Active share vs the S&P 500		100%
Holdings
Measure	EEM	GDX
Holdings in common	1%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	37.2%	60%

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

Risk and return

Jun 2, 2006 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,064 weekly returns

EEM GDX

Return

Total return edge EEM +191.5% +148.2%

Annualized edge EEM +5.4% +4.5%

Price return edge GDX +92.6% +105.0%

Risk

Volatility edge EEM 23.6% 38.4%

Max drawdown edge EEM −62.6% −79.2%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge Tie 0.27 0.27

Sortino edge Tie 0.38 0.38

Calmar edge EEM 0.09 0.06

Reading

EEM returned more: +191.5% to +148.2%. EEM swung less: 23.6% to 38.4%. EEM fell less at its worst: −62.6% to −79.2%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: EEM vs GDX: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	EEM	GDX	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+191.5%	+148.2%	EEM	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+5.4%	+4.5%	EEM	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+92.6%	+105.0%	GDX	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	23.6%	38.4%	EEM	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	16.5%	26.4%	EEM	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−62.6%	−79.2%	EEM	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.27	0.27	Tie	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.38	0.38	Tie	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.09	0.06	EEM	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,064 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, EEM 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 EEM GDX

ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI PLC 0.38% 4.78%

GOLD FIELDS 0.28% 3.96%

ZIJIN GOLD INTERNATIONAL LTD 0.05% 1.04%

BUENAVENTURA ADR REPRESENTING 0.04% 0.84%

AURA MINERALS INC 0.02% 0.52%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in EEM

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 15.98%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS LTD 6.88%

SK HYNIX 4.91%

TENCENT HOLDINGS 2.64%

ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING 1.82%

MEDIATEK 1.54%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORP H 0.94%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS NON VOTING PRE 0.91%

Only in GDX

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd 11.45%

Newmont Corp 11.42%

Barrick Mining Corp 8.07%

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp 5.50%

Franco-Nevada Corp 5.33%

Kinross Gold Corp 3.88%

Northern Star Resources Ltd 3.25%

Pan American Silver Corp 2.61%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF GDX VanEck Gold Miners ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Thematic ETF

Issuer iShares VanEck

What it is Tracks an index of Emerging markets Gold miners

Total return, 1 year +16.3% +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 0.72% 0.51%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 11.7%

Holdings 1186 59

Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 $29.1bn $25.6bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-B8959CCB64

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

What each follows. EEM follows MSCI Emerging Markets Index 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 EEM returned +16.3% and GDX +19.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.7 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

EEM

EEM tracks an index of Emerging markets. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +16.3% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.72% 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 1,186 positions, with the top ten at 37.2%. It sat 10.8% below its high of Jun 22, 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 EEM and GDX in the same category?: EEM 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, EEM or GDX?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EEM returned +16.3% and GDX +19.0%.
Which is cheaper, EEM or GDX?: GDX is cheaper, by 0.21 percentage points a year. That is about $21 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do EEM and GDX overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of EEM and 12% of GDX by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

EEM vs IBB EEM vs XBI EEM vs LYTE EEM vs REMX GDX vs VWO GDX vs IEMG AVEM vs GDX GDX vs IEFA

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

EEM filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

EEM prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for EEM ↗

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

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