Which returned more over the last year, EWY or GLD?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EWY returned +79.7% and GLD +2.5%.

Which is cheaper, EWY or GLD?

GLD is cheaper, by 0.19 percentage points a year. That is about $19 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

EWY vs GLD: Differences, Returns & Fees

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EWY is an equity index fund and GLD a commodity fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, EWY returned +79.7% against +2.5%.

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Net assets: $24.4bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI South Korea ETF, and $135.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR Gold Shares.

EWY on its own →GLD on its own →

At a glance

+79.7%

EWY total return, 1 year

+2.5%

GLD total return, 1 year

0.59%

EWY expense ratio

0.40%

GLD expense ratio

Pair scorecard

GLD costs 0.19 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 77.2 points; GLD is 6.0 times larger.

EWY vs GLD: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	EWY	GLD
Return
Measure	EWY	GLD
Total return, 1 year	+79.7%	+2.5%
Drawdown
Measure	EWY	GLD
Below its high	24.3%, high on Jun 18, 2026	24.7%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	EWY	GLD
What it tracks	MSCI Korea 25/50 Daily 25 Capped Index	Gold
Cost and size
Measure	EWY	GLD
Expense ratio	0.59%	0.40%
Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026	$22.5bn	$134.6bn
Holdings
Measure	EWY	GLD
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight	0%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	60.9%

Method

Side by side

EWY iShares MSCI South Korea ETF GLD SPDR Gold Shares

Where it sits Stock ETF Commodity ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Tracks the MSCI South Korea Holds gold

Total return, 1 year +79.7% +2.5%

Its benchmark over the same days +16.3% (EEM) +2.7% (IAU)

Gap to its benchmark +63.4 pts vs EEM −0.2 pts vs IAU

Expense ratio 0.59% 0.40%

Holdings 78 not counted

Net assets, EWY as of Oct 28, 2026 and GLD as of Oct 27, 2026 $24.4bn $135.8bn

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

Alert

About each fund

EWY

EWY tracks the MSCI South Korea. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +79.7% with distributions reinvested, against +16.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.59% 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 78 positions, with the top ten at 60.9%. It sat 24.3% below its high of Jun 18, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

GLD

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, EWY or GLD?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EWY returned +79.7% and GLD +2.5%.
Which is cheaper, EWY or GLD?: GLD is cheaper, by 0.19 percentage points a year. That is about $19 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

EWY vs IAU EWY vs GLDM EWY vs SLV EWY vs SIVR FLKR vs GLD GLD vs VYMI GLD vs VGK GLD vs IDEV

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

EWY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

EWY prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for EWY ↗

State Street website ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

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ETFIQ, EWY against GLD, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ewy-vs-gld

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