Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
GDX vs IAUM: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, GDX returned +19.0% to IAUM's +2.9%, and IAUM charges 0.07% to GDX's 0.51%.
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Net assets: $25.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for VanEck Gold Miners ETF, and $8.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust Micro Shares.
Pair scorecard
IAUM costs 0.44 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 16.1 points; GDX is 3.2 times larger.
| Measure | GDX | IAUM |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +19.0% | +2.9% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its all-time high | 27.5%, high on Feb 27, 2026 | |
| Below its high | 24.5%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold miners | Gold |
| Against its benchmark, 1 year | ahead by 5.6 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.51% | 0.07% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $25.6bn | $8.1bn |
| Active share vs the S&P 500 | 100% | |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 12% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 60% | |
Risk and return
Jul 9, 2021 to Oct 23, 2026 · 276 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: GDX against ACWI, Apr 4, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026; IAUM against GLD, Jul 9, 2021 to Oct 23, 2026.
GDX returned more: +150.1% to +120.4%. IAUM swung less: 16.6% to 38.1%. IAUM fell less at its worst: −24.0% to −45.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | GDX | IAUM | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +150.1% | +120.4% | GDX | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +18.8% | +16.1% | GDX | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +133.3% | +120.4% | GDX (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 38.1% | 16.6% | IAUM | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 24.3% | 10.7% | IAUM | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −45.1% | −24.0% | IAUM | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 50.2% | 100.3% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 74.9% | 99.7% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.76 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.13 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.54 | 0.76 | IAUM | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.85 | 1.17 | IAUM | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.127 | 0.126 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.42 | 0.67 | IAUM | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | ACWI | GLD | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +3.4% a year | +0.4% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.41 | 1.81 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −13.0% to +19.9% | 0.0% to +0.7% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.04 | 0.70 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 36.4% | 0.5% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 276 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
GDX and IAUM on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
GDX and IAUM do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. GDX follows Gold miners and IAUM follows Gold.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 GDX returned +19.0% and IAUM +2.9% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 16.1 points.
- Cost. GDX charges 0.51% of assets a year and IAUM 0.07%, a gap of 0.44 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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GDX
By weight, 12% of GDX's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 100%. The top ten holdings are 60% of the fund across 59 positions, as published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 the fund returned +19.0% with distributions reinvested against +13.4% for its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Index, so a holder was ahead by 5.6 pts. It sits 27.5% below its all-time high of Feb 27, 2026.
Its expense ratio is 0.07% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
IAUM holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.9% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.5% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Are GDX and IAUM in the same category?
- GDX is a thematic ETF and IAUM is a commodity ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, GDX or IAUM?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GDX returned +19.0% and IAUM +2.9%.
- Which is cheaper, GDX or IAUM?
- IAUM is cheaper, by 0.44 percentage points a year. That is about $44 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, GDX against IAUM, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gdx-vs-iaum
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