Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
GLDM vs VPU: Differences, Returns & Fees
GLDM is a commodity fund and VPU an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, GLDM returned +2.8% against −3.3%.
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Net assets: $30.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust, and $7.7bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Utilities ETF.
Pair scorecard
VPU costs 0.01 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 6.1 points; GLDM is 4.0 times larger.
| Measure | GLDM | VPU |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.8% | −3.3% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.5%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | 8.9%, high on Feb 27, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Utilities 25/50 |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.10% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $30.7bn | $7.7bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 90% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 52.3% | |
Risk and return
Jul 6, 2018 to Oct 23, 2026 · 433 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: GLDM against GLD, Jul 6, 2018 to Oct 23, 2026; VPU against FUTY, Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
GLDM returned more: +215.1% to +99.3%. GLDM swung less: 16.0% to 20.3%. GLDM fell less at its worst: −24.0% to −32.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | GLDM | VPU | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +215.1% | +99.3% | GLDM | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +14.8% | +8.6% | GLDM | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +215.1% | +54.8% | GLDM | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 16.0% | 20.3% | GLDM | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 10.5% | 14.1% | GLDM | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −24.0% | −32.4% | GLDM | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.0% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.6% | 100.1% | 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 | 0.77 | 0.37 | GLDM | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.17 | 0.54 | GLDM | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.123 | 0.087 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.62 | 0.27 | GLDM | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | GLD | FUTY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.3% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 1.42 | −0.21 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.1% to +0.7% | −0.4% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.43 | 0.00 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.6% | 0.6% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 433 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
GLDM and VPU on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
GLDM and VPU do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. GLDM follows Gold and VPU follows MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Utilities 25/50.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 GLDM returned +2.8% and VPU −3.3% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 6.1 points.
- Size. GLDM has $30.7bn in net assets and VPU $7.7bn (net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026); GLDM is 4.0 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Its expense ratio is 0.10% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
GLDM holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.8% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.5% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
VPU
VPU tracks an index of Utilities. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −3.3% with distributions reinvested, against −3.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Utilities 25/50. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 90% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 70 positions, with the top ten at 52.3%. It sat 8.9% below its high of Feb 27, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, GLDM or VPU?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLDM returned +2.8% and VPU −3.3%.
- Which is cheaper, GLDM or VPU?
- VPU is cheaper, by 0.01 percentage points a year. That is about $1 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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