Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IAU vs IJR: Differences, Returns & Fees
IAU is a commodity fund and IJR an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IJR returned +17.5% against +2.7%.
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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $104.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF.
Pair scorecard
IJR costs 0.19 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 14.8 points; IJR is 1.7 times larger.
| Measure | IAU | IJR |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.7% | +17.5% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | 6.8%, high on Aug 14, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | S&P SmallCap 600 |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.25% | 0.06% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $60.3bn | $104.6bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 0% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 5.3% | |
Risk and return
Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,133 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IAU against GLD, Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026; IJR against SPSM, Jul 19, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
IAU returned more: +805.4% to +576.7%. IAU swung less: 17.4% to 22.3%. IAU fell less at its worst: −44.4% to −57.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IAU | IJR | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +805.4% | +576.7% | IAU | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +10.6% | +9.2% | IAU | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +805.4% | +407.6% | IAU | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.4% | 22.3% | IAU | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.9% | 15.4% | IAU | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −44.4% | −57.3% | IAU | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.4% | 98.7% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 98.9% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.99 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.99 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.56 | 0.42 | IAU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.82 | 0.61 | IAU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.098 | 0.097 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.24 | 0.16 | IAU | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | GLD | SPSM | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.1% a year | +0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.67 | 0.91 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.2% to +0.4% | −0.7% to +1.9% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.18 | 0.20 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.7% | 2.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,133 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
IAU and IJR on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IAU and IJR do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IAU follows Gold and IJR follows S&P SmallCap 600.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IAU returned +2.7% and IJR +17.5% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 14.8 points.
- Cost. IAU charges 0.25% of assets a year and IJR 0.06%, a gap of 0.19 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
IJR
IJR tracks the S&P SmallCap 600. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +17.5% with distributions reinvested, against +17.6% for its benchmark, the S&P SmallCap 600. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.06% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 642 positions, with the top ten at 5.3%. It sat 6.8% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, IAU or IJR?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and IJR +17.5%.
- Which is cheaper, IAU or IJR?
- IJR is cheaper, by 0.19 percentage points a year. That is about $19 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, IAU against IJR, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-ijr
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). IAU against IJR. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-ijr
[IAU against IJR (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-ijr)
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