Which returned more over the last year, GLD or VT?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLD returned +2.5% and VT +13.5%.

Which is cheaper, GLD or VT?

VT is cheaper, by 0.34 percentage points a year. That is about $34 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

GLD vs VT: Differences, Returns & Fees

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GLD is a commodity fund and VT an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, VT returned +13.5% against +2.5%.

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Net assets: $135.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR Gold Shares, and $81.8bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Total World Stock Index ETF.

GLD on its own →VT on its own →

At a glance

+2.5%

GLD total return, 1 year

+13.5%

VT total return, 1 year

0.40%

GLD expense ratio

0.06%

VT expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VT costs 0.34 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 11.0 points; GLD is 1.7 times larger.

GLD vs VT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	GLD	VT
Return
Measure	GLD	VT
Total return, 1 year	+2.5%	+13.5%
Drawdown
Measure	GLD	VT
Below its high	24.7%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	GLD	VT
What it tracks	Gold	FTSE Global All Cap Index
Cost and size
Measure	GLD	VT
Expense ratio	0.40%	0.06%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$141.7bn	$81.8bn
Holdings
Measure	GLD	VT
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		55%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		22.5%

Method

Risk and return

Jul 3, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026 · 955 weekly returns

GLD VT

Return

Total return edge VT +298.2% +371.6%

Annualized edge VT +7.8% +8.8%

Price return edge GLD +298.2% +221.4%

Risk

Volatility edge GLD (slight) 16.9% 18.3%

Max drawdown edge GLD (slight) −44.7% −48.3%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge VT (slight) 0.44 0.48

Sortino edge Tie 0.65 0.66

Calmar edge VT (slight) 0.17 0.18

Reading

VT returned more: +371.6% to +298.2%. GLD swung slightly less: 16.9% to 18.3%. GLD fell slightly less at its worst: −44.7% to −48.3%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: GLD vs VT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	GLD	VT	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+298.2%	+371.6%	VT	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+7.8%	+8.8%	VT	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+298.2%	+221.4%	GLD	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	16.9%	18.3%	GLD (slight)	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	11.5%	13.1%	GLD	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−44.7%	−48.3%	GLD (slight)	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.44	0.48	VT (slight)	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.65	0.66	Tie	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.17	0.18	VT (slight)	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 955 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

Side by side

GLD SPDR Gold Shares VT Vanguard Total World Stock Index ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer State Street Vanguard

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Total World Stock

Total return, 1 year +2.5% +13.5%

Its benchmark over the same days +2.7% (IAU) not measured

Gap to its benchmark −0.2 pts vs IAU not measured

Expense ratio 0.40% 0.06%

Holdings not counted 10194

Net assets, GLD as of Oct 27, 2026 and VT as of Sep 30, 2026 $135.8bn $81.8bn

GLD and VT on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-4DBC5373EC

GLD and VT do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. GLD follows Gold and VT follows FTSE Global All Cap Index.
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 GLD returned +2.5% and VT +13.5% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 11.0 points.
Cost. GLD charges 0.40% of assets a year and VT 0.06%, a gap of 0.34 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

GLD

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.

VT tracks an index of Total World Stock. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.5% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.06% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 55% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 10,194 positions, with the top ten at 22.5%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, GLD or VT?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLD returned +2.5% and VT +13.5%.
Which is cheaper, GLD or VT?: VT is cheaper, by 0.34 percentage points a year. That is about $34 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

GLD vs URTH ACWI vs GLD GLD vs VWO GLD vs IEMG IAU vs VT GLDM vs VT SLV vs VT SIVR vs VT

Where to next

GLD on its own →VT on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →VT dividend history →VT holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

State Street website ↗

VT filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VT prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VT ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, GLD against VT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-vt

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.