Data as of Nov 4, 2026.
GLD vs QALT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, GLD returned +2.8% to QALT's +6.5%, and GLD charges 0.40% to QALT's 0.80%.
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Net assets: $131.3bn on Nov 3, 2026 for SPDR Gold Shares, and $194m on Jun 30, 2026 for SEI DBi Multi-Strategy Alternative ETF.
Pair scorecard
GLD costs 0.40 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.7 points.
| Measure | GLD | QALT |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.8% | +6.5% |
| Total return, 52 weeks | +6.2% | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.9%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | not published |
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.7% | |
| Against cash | 2.5 points ahead | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.40% | 0.80% |
| Net assets, GLD as of Nov 3, 2026 and QALT as of Jun 30, 2026 | $131.3bn | $194m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| Risk | ||
| Correlation with the S&P 500’s weekly returns | +0.60 | |
| Beta to the S&P 500 | +0.31: about 0.31% for each 1% | |
| Its average week when the S&P 500 fell | fell 0.49% | |
| Down-week capture | 45.7% | |
| Weeks the S&P 500 fell | 26 of 52, by 1.07% on average | |
Side by side
GLD and QALT on the fields both publish, as of Nov 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
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 Nov 4, 2026 it returned +2.8% with distributions reinvested, against +2.9% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.9% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Nov 4, 2026.
QALT
QALT is a multi-strategy fund. ETFIQ measures what every alternatives fund is sold on: whether it moves differently from the stock market. Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of +0.60 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.31, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.31% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.07% on average. In the same weeks QALT fell 0.49% on average, a down-week capture of 45.7%. Over the same 52 weeks QALT returned +6.2% and a Treasury bill fund +3.7%, so it finished 2.5 percentage points ahead of cash.
Questions people ask
- Are GLD and QALT in the same category?
- GLD is a commodity ETF and QALT is an alternatives 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 QALT?
- In the year to Nov 4, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLD returned +2.8% and QALT +6.5%.
- Which is cheaper, GLD or QALT?
- GLD is cheaper, by 0.40 percentage points a year. That is about $40 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.
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ETFIQ, GLD against QALT, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-qalt
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). GLD against QALT. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-qalt
[GLD against QALT (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-qalt)
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