Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
GLD vs IAU: Differences, Returns & Fees
GLD and IAU are both commodity funds, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IAU returned +2.7% against +2.5%.
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Net assets: $135.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR Gold Shares, and $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust.
Pair scorecard
IAU costs 0.15 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.2 points; GLD is 2.3 times larger.
| Measure | GLD | IAU |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.5% | +2.7% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.7%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | 24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | Gold |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.40% | 0.25% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $135.8bn | $60.3bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
Risk and return
Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,133 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: GLD against IAU, Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026; IAU against GLD, Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026.
IAU returned slightly more: +805.4% to +784.0%. GLD and IAU swung about the same: 17.3% and 17.4%. GLD and IAU fell about the same at their worst: −44.7% and −44.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | GLD | IAU | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +784.0% | +805.4% | IAU (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +10.5% | +10.6% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +784.0% | +805.4% | IAU (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.3% | 17.4% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.9% | 11.9% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −44.7% | −44.4% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.4% | 100.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.9% | 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 | 0.56 | 0.56 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.82 | 0.82 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.097 | 0.098 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.24 | 0.24 | Tie | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IAU | 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 | −0.57 | 0.67 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.2% | −0.2% to +0.4% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.18 | 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, 1,133 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
GLD and IAU on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
GLD and IAU are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- Cost. GLD charges 0.40% of assets a year and IAU 0.25%, a gap of 0.15 points.
- What each follows (similar). Both follow Gold.
- One-year total return (similar). Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 GLD returned +2.5% and IAU +2.7% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 0.2 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Its expense ratio is 0.40% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
GLD holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.5% with distributions reinvested, against +2.7% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.7% below its high of Jan 29, 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, GLD or IAU?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLD returned +2.5% and IAU +2.7%.
- Which is cheaper, GLD or IAU?
- IAU is cheaper, by 0.15 percentage points a year. That is about $15 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, GLD against IAU, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-iau
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). GLD against IAU. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-iau
[GLD against IAU (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-iau)
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