Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IWC vs SLV: Differences, Returns & Fees
IWC is an equity index fund and SLV a commodity fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IWC returned +16.5% against +14.9%.
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Net assets: $1.2bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Micro-Cap ETF, and $26.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Silver Trust.
Pair scorecard
SLV costs 0.10 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.6 points; SLV is far larger, $26.5bn against $1.2bn.
| Measure | IWC | SLV |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +16.5% | +14.9% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 9.5%, high on Aug 14, 2026 | 53.5%, high on Jan 28, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Russell Microcap Index | Silver |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.60% | 0.50% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $1.2bn | $26.5bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 92% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 5.9% | |
Risk and return
May 5, 2006 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,068 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IWC against IWV, Aug 26, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026; SLV against SIVR, Jul 31, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026.
IWC returned more: +276.8% to +248.1%. IWC swung less: 24.0% to 32.5%. IWC fell less at its worst: −63.8% to −75.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IWC | SLV | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +276.8% | +248.1% | IWC | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +6.7% | +6.3% | IWC (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +198.8% | +248.1% | SLV | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 24.0% | 32.5% | IWC | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 17.0% | 23.0% | IWC | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −63.8% | −75.2% | IWC | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 118.0% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 111.7% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.16 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.76 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.32 | 0.30 | IWC (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.45 | 0.42 | IWC (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.070 | 0.107 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.10 | 0.08 | IWC | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IWV | SIVR | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −3.6% a year | −0.2% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −1.41 | −0.92 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −8.5% to +1.4% | −0.6% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.16 | −0.19 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 12.0% | 0.8% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,068 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
IWC and SLV on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IWC and SLV do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IWC follows Russell Microcap Index and SLV follows Silver.
- Cost. IWC charges 0.60% of assets a year and SLV 0.50%, a gap of 0.10 points.
- Size. IWC has $1.2bn in net assets and SLV $26.5bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); SLV is 22.1 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +16.5% with distributions reinvested, against +13.3% for its benchmark, the Russell 3000 Index.
IWC tracks the Russell Microcap. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.60% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 92% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 1,365 positions, with the top ten at 5.9%. It sat 9.5% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Its expense ratio is 0.50% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
SLV holds silver. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +14.9% with distributions reinvested, against +15.0% for its benchmark, the price of silver. It sat 53.5% below its high of Jan 28, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, IWC or SLV?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IWC returned +16.5% and SLV +14.9%.
- Which is cheaper, IWC or SLV?
- SLV is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, IWC against SLV, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwc-vs-slv
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