Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
GDX vs VOOG: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, GDX returned +19.0% to VOOG's +12.1%, and VOOG charges 0.05% to GDX's 0.51%.
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Net assets: $25.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for VanEck Gold Miners ETF, and $27.8bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF.
Pair scorecard
VOOG costs 0.46 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 6.9 points.
| Measure | GDX | VOOG |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +19.0% | +12.1% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its all-time high | 27.5%, high on Feb 27, 2026 | |
| Below its high | 4.1%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold miners | S&P 500 Growth Index |
| Against its benchmark, 1 year | ahead by 5.6 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.51% | 0.05% |
| Net assets, GDX as of Oct 27, 2026 and VOOG as of Sep 30, 2026 | $25.6bn | $27.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 60% | 60.2% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026 · 840 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: GDX against ACWI, Apr 4, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026; VOOG against IVW, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
VOOG returned more: +1,043.0% to +70.6%. VOOG swung less: 17.5% to 36.5%. VOOG fell less at its worst: −32.0% to −79.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | GDX | VOOG | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +70.6% | +1,043.0% | VOOG | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +3.4% | +16.3% | VOOG | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +46.4% | +845.5% | VOOG | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 36.5% | 17.5% | VOOG | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 25.2% | 11.7% | VOOG | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −79.2% | −32.0% | VOOG | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 50.2% | 99.6% | 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 | 0.23 | 0.86 | VOOG | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.34 | 1.28 | VOOG | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.127 | 0.151 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.04 | 0.51 | VOOG | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | ACWI | IVW | 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 | 0.33 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −13.0% to +19.9% | −0.4% to +0.5% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.04 | 0.06 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 36.4% | 0.9% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 840 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, GDX and VOOG hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
GDX and VOOG on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
GDX and VOOG do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. GDX follows Gold miners and VOOG follows S&P 500 Growth Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 GDX returned +19.0% and VOOG +12.1% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 6.9 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.
VOOG
VOOG tracks the S&P 500 Growth. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.1% with distributions reinvested, against +12.1% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Growth Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.05% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 154 positions, with the top ten at 60.2%. It sat 4.1% below its high of Oct 6, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Are GDX and VOOG in the same category?
- GDX is a thematic ETF and VOOG 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 VOOG?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GDX returned +19.0% and VOOG +12.1%.
- Which is cheaper, GDX or VOOG?
- VOOG is cheaper, by 0.46 percentage points a year. That is about $46 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
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 VOOG, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gdx-vs-voog
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