Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
GDX vs IWM: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, GDX returned +19.0% to IWM's +14.1%, and IWM charges 0.19% to GDX's 0.51%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $25.6bn for VanEck Gold Miners ETF and $75.5bn for iShares Russell 2000 ETF.
Pair scorecard
IWM costs 0.32 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.9 points; IWM is 2.9 times larger.
| Measure | GDX | IWM |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +19.0% | +14.1% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its all-time high | 27.5%, high on Feb 27, 2026 | |
| Below its high | 7.6%, high on Aug 14, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold miners | Russell 2000 Index |
| Against its benchmark, 1 year | ahead by 5.6 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.51% | 0.19% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $25.6bn | $75.5bn |
| Active share vs the S&P 500 | 100% | |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 60% | 3.3% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Jun 2, 2006 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,064 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: GDX against ACWI, Apr 4, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026; IWM against VTWO, Oct 1, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
IWM returned more: +394.5% to +148.2%. IWM swung less: 23.1% to 38.4%. IWM fell less at its worst: −57.7% to −79.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | GDX | IWM | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +148.2% | +394.5% | IWM | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +4.5% | +8.1% | IWM | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +105.0% | +276.6% | IWM | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 38.4% | 23.1% | IWM | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 26.4% | 16.2% | IWM | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −79.2% | −57.7% | IWM | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 50.2% | 101.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 74.9% | 100.5% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.76 | 1.01 | 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 | 0.27 | 0.38 | IWM | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.38 | 0.54 | IWM | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.127 | 0.106 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.06 | 0.14 | IWM | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | ACWI | VTWO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +3.4% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.41 | −0.36 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −13.0% to +19.9% | −0.6% to +0.4% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.04 | −0.02 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 36.4% | 1.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,064 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, GDX and IWM hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
GDX and IWM on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
GDX and IWM do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. GDX follows Gold miners and IWM follows Russell 2000 Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 GDX returned +19.0% and IWM +14.1% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 4.9 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.
IWM
IWM tracks the Russell 2000. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +14.1% with distributions reinvested, against +14.3% for its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.19% 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 1,977 positions, with the top ten at 3.3%. It sat 7.6% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Are GDX and IWM in the same category?
- GDX is a thematic ETF and IWM is a stock 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 IWM?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GDX returned +19.0% and IWM +14.1%.
- Which is cheaper, GDX or IWM?
- IWM is cheaper, by 0.32 percentage points a year. That is about $32 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, GDX against IWM, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gdx-vs-iwm
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). GDX against IWM. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gdx-vs-iwm
[GDX against IWM (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gdx-vs-iwm)
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