Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
EFA vs GLD: Differences, Returns & Fees
EFA is an equity index fund and GLD a commodity fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, EFA returned +12.1% against +2.5%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $76.8bn for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF and $135.8bn for SPDR Gold Shares.
Pair scorecard
EFA costs 0.08 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 9.6 points; GLD is 1.8 times larger.
| Measure | EFA | GLD |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +12.1% | +2.5% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026 | 24.7%, high on Jan 29, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI EAFE Index | Gold |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.32% | 0.40% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $76.8bn | $135.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 0% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 14.3% | |
Risk and return
Nov 26, 2004 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,143 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: EFA against ACWX, Apr 11, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026; GLD against IAU, Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026.
GLD returned more: +709.5% to +273.4%. GLD swung slightly less: 17.3% to 18.9%. GLD fell less at its worst: −44.7% to −59.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | EFA | GLD | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +273.4% | +709.5% | GLD | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +6.2% | +10.0% | GLD | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +97.6% | +709.5% | GLD | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 18.9% | 17.3% | GLD (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.8% | 11.9% | GLD | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −59.4% | −44.7% | GLD | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 95.1% | 99.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 97.5% | 99.9% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.96 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.96 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.32 | 0.53 | GLD | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.43 | 0.77 | GLD | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.055 | 0.097 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.10 | 0.22 | GLD | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | ACWX | IAU | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.5% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.53 | −0.57 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.4% to +2.4% | −0.4% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.08 | −0.18 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 4.2% | 0.7% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,143 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
EFA and GLD on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
EFA and GLD do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. EFA follows MSCI EAFE Index and GLD follows Gold.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 EFA returned +12.1% and GLD +2.5% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 9.6 points.
- Cost (similar). EFA charges 0.32% of assets a year and GLD 0.40%, a gap of 0.08 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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EFA
EFA tracks an index of Developed markets ex US. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.1% with distributions reinvested, against +14.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.32% 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 665 positions, with the top ten at 14.3%. It sat 4.7% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
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
- Which returned more over the last year, EFA or GLD?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EFA returned +12.1% and GLD +2.5%.
- Which is cheaper, EFA or GLD?
- EFA is cheaper, by 0.08 percentage points a year. That is about $8 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, EFA against GLD, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/efa-vs-gld
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[EFA against GLD (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/efa-vs-gld)
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