Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IAU vs IVV: Differences, Returns & Fees
IAU is a commodity fund and IVV an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IVV returned +13.7% against +2.7%.
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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $885.1bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Core S&P 500 ETF.
Pair scorecard
IVV costs 0.22 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 11.0 points; IVV is 14.7 times larger.
| Measure | IAU | IVV |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.7% | +13.7% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | S&P 500 |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.25% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $60.3bn | $885.1bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 38.1% | |
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; IVV against SPY, May 26, 2000 to Oct 23, 2026.
IVV returned slightly more: +847.2% to +805.4%. IAU and IVV swung about the same: 17.4% and 17.3%. IAU fell less at its worst: −44.4% to −54.7%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IAU | IVV | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +805.4% | +847.2% | IVV (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +10.6% | +10.9% | IVV (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +805.4% | +534.1% | IAU | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.4% | 17.3% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.9% | 12.2% | IAU (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −44.4% | −54.7% | IAU | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.4% | 99.3% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 99.7% | 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 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.56 | 0.58 | IVV (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.82 | 0.82 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.098 | 0.081 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.24 | 0.20 | IAU | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | GLD | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.1% a year | +0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.67 | 0.33 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.2% to +0.4% | −0.4% to +0.5% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.18 | 0.00 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.7% | 1.2% | 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 IVV on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IAU and IVV do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IAU follows Gold and IVV follows S&P 500.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IAU returned +2.7% and IVV +13.7% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 11.0 points.
- Cost. IAU charges 0.25% of assets a year and IVV 0.03%, a gap of 0.22 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.
IVV
IVV tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.7% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 505 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, IAU or IVV?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and IVV +13.7%.
- Which is cheaper, IAU or IVV?
- IVV is cheaper, by 0.22 percentage points a year. That is about $22 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, IAU against IVV, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-ivv
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