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

In the year to Sep 19, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FMF returned +15.7% and GLD returned +19.5%, so GLD returned more.

Which is cheaper, FMF or GLD?

FMF charges 0.98% a year and GLD charges 0.40%, so GLD is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Are FMF and GLD the same kind of fund?

No. FMF is an alternatives ETF and GLD is a commodity ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

Data as of Sep 19, 2026.

ETFIQetfiq.com · independent ETF data

FMF vs GLD: how they differ

Over the year GLD returned more, +19.5% to FMF's +15.7%, and GLD charges 0.40% to FMF's 0.98%.

First Trust Managed Futures Strategy Fund and SPDR Gold Shares.

FMF and GLD on the fields both publish, as of Sep 19, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	FMF First Trust Managed Futures Strategy Fund	GLD SPDR Gold Shares
Where it sits	Alternatives ETF	Core fund
Issuer	First Trust	State Street
What it is	Managed futures	Holds gold
Total return, 1 year	+15.7%	+19.5%
S&P 500 over the same days	+16.6%	+16.6%
Gap to the S&P 500	−0.9 pts	+3.0 pts
Expense ratio	0.98%	0.40%
Net assets	$288m	$147.8bn

FMF in plain words

FMF 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 Sep 18, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of +0.18 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.12, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.12% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 22 of those 52 weeks, by 1.24% on average. In the same weeks FMF rose 0.20% on average, a down-week capture of −16.2%. Over the same 52 weeks FMF returned +15.3% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 11.7 percentage points ahead of cash.

GLD in plain words

GLD holds gold. Over the year to Sep 18, 2026 it returned +19.5% with distributions reinvested, against +16.6% for the S&P 500 and +21.8% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.40% a year. It sat 19.1% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Sep 18, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FMF or GLD?: In the year to Sep 19, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FMF returned +15.7% and GLD returned +19.5%, so GLD returned more.
Which is cheaper, FMF or GLD?: FMF charges 0.98% a year and GLD charges 0.40%, so GLD is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Are FMF and GLD the same kind of fund?: No. FMF is an alternatives ETF and GLD is a commodity ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

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Where these figures came from

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.

FMF against GLD, ETFIQ, data as of Sep 19, 2026. Every figure is calculated from a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page. ETFIQ, FMF against GLD, data as of Sep 19, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fmf-vs-gld Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources