Which returned more over the last year, FAAR or GSG?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FAAR returned +19.7% and GSG +57.4%.

Which is cheaper, FAAR or GSG?

GSG is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $17. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

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FAAR vs GSG: how they differ

FAAR is an actively managed commodity fund and GSG a commodity futures fund, and over the year GSG returned +57.4% against +19.7%. First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF and iShares GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust Fund.

GSG costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 37.7 points; GSG is 4.3 times larger.

	FAAR	GSG
Expense ratio	0.98%	0.81%
Net assets, as of Oct 8, 2026	$241m	$1.0bn
Total return, 1 year	+19.7%	+57.4%
Holdings in common	not published
Below its high	3.9%, high on May 18, 2026	52.8%, high on Jul 2, 2008

+19.7%

FAAR total return, 1 year

+57.4%

GSG total return, 1 year

0.98%

FAAR expense ratio

0.81%

GSG expense ratio

On the same fields

FAAR

First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF

GSG

iShares GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust Fund

Where it sits Commodity ETF Commodity ETF

Issuer First Trust iShares

What it is Actively managed Holds commodity futures

Total return, 1 year +19.7% +57.4%

S&P 500 over the same days +17.3% +17.3%

Gap to the S&P 500 +2.4 pts +40.1 pts

Expense ratio 0.98% 0.81%

Holdings 4 not read by ETFIQ

Net assets, as of Oct 8, 2026 $241m $1.0bn

FAAR and GSG on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

FAAR in plain words

FAAR is actively managed and tracks no index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.98% a year. It sat 3.9% below its high of May 18, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +19.7% with distributions reinvested, against +40.2% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg Commodity Index.

GSG in plain words

GSG holds commodity futures. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +57.4% with distributions reinvested. It sat 52.8% below its high of Jul 2, 2008 on Oct 9, 2026.

Its expense ratio is 0.81% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FAAR or GSG?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FAAR returned +19.7% and GSG +57.4%.
Which is cheaper, FAAR or GSG?: GSG is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $17. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

FAAR vs NBCM FAAR vs PIT CERY vs FAAR FAAR vs SDCI GSG vs NBCM GSG vs PIT BCD vs GSG CMDT vs GSG

FAAR on its own →GSG on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

FAAR filings on SEC EDGAR ↗FAAR prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗First Trust page for FAAR ↗GSG filings on SEC EDGAR ↗iShares page for GSG ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page

ETFIQ, FAAR against GSG, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/faar-vs-gsg

Open data

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