Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
GLD vs VGLT: Differences, Returns & Fees
GLD is a commodity fund and VGLT a bond index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, GLD returned +2.5% against −6.7%.
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Net assets: $135.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR Gold Shares, and $10.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF.
Pair scorecard
VGLT costs 0.37 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 9.2 points; GLD is 13.6 times larger.
| Measure | GLD | VGLT |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.5% | −6.7% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.7%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | 38.8%, high on Aug 4, 2020 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | Bloomberg U.S. Long Treasury Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.40% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $141.7bn | $10.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
Risk and return
Dec 4, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026 · 881 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: GLD against IAU, Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026; VGLT against SCHQ, Oct 18, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026.
GLD returned more: +222.3% to +46.2%. VGLT swung less: 12.7% to 15.8%. GLD and VGLT fell about the same at their worst: −44.7% and −45.6%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | GLD | VGLT | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +222.3% | +46.2% | GLD | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +7.2% | +2.3% | GLD | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +222.3% | −13.0% | GLD | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 15.8% | 12.7% | VGLT | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 10.9% | 9.1% | VGLT | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −44.7% | −45.6% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.4% | 99.5% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.9% | 99.8% | 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 | 0.42 | 0.12 | GLD | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.61 | 0.17 | GLD | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.097 | −0.058 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.16 | 0.05 | GLD | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IAU | SCHQ | 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 | −0.24 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.2% | −0.4% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.18 | −0.04 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.7% | 0.5% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 881 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
GLD and VGLT on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
GLD and VGLT do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. GLD follows Gold and VGLT follows Bloomberg U.S. Long Treasury Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 GLD returned +2.5% and VGLT −6.7% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 9.2 points.
- Cost. GLD charges 0.40% of assets a year and VGLT 0.03%, a gap of 0.37 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.
VGLT
VGLT tracks an index of Long-term Treasury. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −6.7% with distributions reinvested, against −6.7% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Long Treasury Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. It sat 38.8% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, GLD or VGLT?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLD returned +2.5% and VGLT −6.7%.
- Which is cheaper, GLD or VGLT?
- VGLT is cheaper, by 0.37 percentage points a year. That is about $37 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, GLD against VGLT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-vglt
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