Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
GLD vs TLT: Differences, Returns & Fees
GLD is a commodity fund and TLT a bond index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, GLD returned +2.5% against −7.9%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about GLD and TLT
Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $135.8bn for SPDR Gold Shares and $47.4bn for iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
TLT costs 0.25 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.4 points; GLD is 2.9 times larger.
| Measure | GLD | TLT |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.5% | −7.9% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.7%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | 42.6%, high on Aug 4, 2020 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.40% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $135.8bn | $47.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
Risk and return
Nov 26, 2004 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,143 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: GLD against IAU, Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026; TLT against BBLB, Apr 28, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026.
GLD returned more: +709.5% to +89.7%. TLT swung less: 13.7% to 17.3%. GLD fell slightly less at its worst: −44.7% to −47.8%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | GLD | TLT | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +709.5% | +89.7% | GLD | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +10.0% | +3.0% | GLD | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +709.5% | −7.8% | GLD | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.3% | 13.7% | TLT | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.9% | 9.6% | TLT | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −44.7% | −47.8% | GLD (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.4% | 102.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.9% | 101.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.01 | 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 | 0.53 | 0.15 | GLD | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.77 | 0.21 | GLD | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.097 | −0.072 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.22 | 0.06 | GLD | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IAU | BBLB | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.57 | −0.01 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.2% | −0.8% to +0.8% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.18 | −0.10 | 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, 1,143 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
GLD and TLT on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
GLD and TLT do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. GLD follows Gold and TLT follows ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 GLD returned +2.5% and TLT −7.9% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 10.4 points.
- Cost. GLD charges 0.40% of assets a year and TLT 0.15%, a gap of 0.25 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.
TLT
TLT tracks an index of 20+ year Treasuries. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −7.9% with distributions reinvested, against −7.8% for its benchmark, the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. It sat 42.6% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, GLD or TLT?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLD returned +2.5% and TLT −7.9%.
- Which is cheaper, GLD or TLT?
- TLT is cheaper, by 0.25 percentage points a year. That is about $25 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 TLT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-tlt
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). GLD against TLT. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-tlt
[GLD against TLT (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-tlt)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.