Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
FTEC vs IAU: Differences, Returns & Fees
FTEC is an equity index fund and IAU a commodity fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, FTEC returned +25.0% against +2.7%.
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Net assets: $22.1bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF, and $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust.
Pair scorecard
FTEC costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 22.3 points; IAU is 2.8 times larger.
| Measure | FTEC | IAU |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +25.0% | +2.7% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.9%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | 24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI USA IMI Information Technology 25/50 Index | Gold |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.08% | 0.25% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $22.1bn | $62.2bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 88% | |
| Holdings dated | Jul 31, 2026 | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 62.2% | |
Risk and return
Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026 · 677 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: FTEC against VGT, Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026; IAU against GLD, Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026.
FTEC returned more: +1,178.5% to +194.4%. IAU swung less: 15.2% to 21.3%. IAU fell less at its worst: −24.1% to −34.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | FTEC | IAU | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +1,178.5% | +194.4% | FTEC | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +21.6% | +8.6% | FTEC | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +1,031.1% | +194.4% | FTEC | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 21.3% | 15.2% | IAU | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 14.1% | 10.2% | IAU | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −34.1% | −24.1% | IAU | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.7% | 100.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 100.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.94 | 0.49 | FTEC | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.41 | 0.73 | FTEC | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.199 | 0.098 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.63 | 0.36 | FTEC | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | VGT | GLD | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | +0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.70 | 0.67 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.5% to +0.2% | −0.2% to +0.4% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.19 | 0.18 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.7% | 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, 677 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
FTEC and IAU on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
FTEC and IAU do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. FTEC follows MSCI USA IMI Information Technology 25/50 Index and IAU follows Gold.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 FTEC returned +25.0% and IAU +2.7% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 22.3 points.
- Cost. FTEC charges 0.08% of assets a year and IAU 0.25%, a gap of 0.17 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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FTEC
FTEC tracks the MSCI Information Technology. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +25.0% with distributions reinvested, against +24.7% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA IMI Information Technology 25/50 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 88% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 281 positions, with the top ten at 62.2%. It sat 4.9% below its high of Oct 6, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, FTEC or IAU?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTEC returned +25.0% and IAU +2.7%.
- Which is cheaper, FTEC or IAU?
- FTEC is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, FTEC against IAU, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ftec-vs-iau
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[FTEC against IAU (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ftec-vs-iau)
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