Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
GLD vs IGLD: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, GLD returned +2.5% to IGLD's 0.0%, and GLD charges 0.40% to IGLD's 0.85%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about GLD and IGLD
Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $135.8bn for SPDR Gold Shares and $583m for FT Vest Gold Strategy Target Income ETF.
Pair scorecard
GLD costs 0.45 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.5 points; GLD is far larger, $135.8bn against $583m.
| Measure | GLD | IGLD |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.5% | 0.0% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 2.5% | fell 18.7% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 7.1% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 93% of the Oct 2, 2026 payment | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.7%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | Benchmark: Gold, measured through GLD |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.40% | 0.85% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $135.8bn | $583m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
Risk and return
Mar 12, 2021 to Oct 23, 2026 · 293 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: GLD against IAU, Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026; IGLD against GLD, Mar 12, 2021 to Oct 23, 2026.
GLD returned more: +127.0% to +77.9%. IGLD swung less: 13.7% to 16.5%. IGLD fell slightly less at its worst: −22.9% to −24.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | GLD | IGLD | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +127.0% | +77.9% | GLD | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +15.7% | +10.8% | GLD | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +127.0% | −3.0% | GLD | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 16.5% | 13.7% | IGLD | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 10.8% | 9.6% | IGLD | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −24.2% | −22.9% | IGLD (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.4% | 70.5% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.9% | 87.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.81 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.95 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.75 | 0.56 | GLD | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.15 | 0.80 | GLD | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.097 | 0.095 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.65 | 0.47 | GLD | 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 | −2.4% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.57 | −1.80 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.2% | −5.0% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.18 | −1.07 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.7% | 4.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 293 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
GLD and IGLD on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Cash paid: distributions over the window, as a share of the starting price.
GLD and IGLD do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. GLD follows Gold and IGLD is measured against Gold through GLD.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 GLD returned +2.5% and IGLD 0.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.5 points.
- Cost. GLD charges 0.40% of assets a year and IGLD 0.85%, a gap of 0.45 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
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.
IGLD
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IGLD paid 20.4% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 18.7%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned 0.0%. Gold (GLD) returned +2.5% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 2.5 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 7.1%, paid monthly. First Trust estimates that 93% of the distribution paid Oct 2, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
Questions people ask
- Are GLD and IGLD in the same category?
- GLD is a commodity ETF and IGLD is an option-income ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, GLD or IGLD?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLD returned +2.5% and IGLD 0.0%.
- Which is cheaper, GLD or IGLD?
- GLD is cheaper, by 0.45 percentage points a year. That is about $45 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, GLD against IGLD, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-igld
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). GLD against IGLD. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-igld
[GLD against IGLD (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-igld)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.