Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IWM vs SLV: Differences, Returns & Fees
IWM is an equity index fund and SLV a commodity fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SLV returned +14.9% against +14.1%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about IWM and SLV
Net assets: $75.5bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Russell 2000 ETF, and $26.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Silver Trust.
Pair scorecard
IWM costs 0.31 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.8 points; IWM is 2.8 times larger.
| Measure | IWM | SLV |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +14.1% | +14.9% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 7.6%, high on Aug 14, 2026 | 53.5%, high on Jan 28, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Russell 2000 Index | Silver |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.19% | 0.50% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $75.5bn | $26.5bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 0% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 3.3% | |
Risk and return
May 5, 2006 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,068 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IWM against VTWO, Oct 1, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; SLV against SIVR, Jul 31, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026.
IWM returned more: +367.0% to +248.1%. IWM swung less: 23.1% to 32.5%. IWM fell less at its worst: −57.7% to −75.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IWM | SLV | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +367.0% | +248.1% | IWM | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +7.8% | +6.3% | IWM | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +255.7% | +248.1% | IWM (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 23.1% | 32.5% | IWM | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 16.2% | 23.0% | IWM | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −57.7% | −75.2% | IWM | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 101.0% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.5% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.01 | 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 | 0.37 | 0.30 | IWM | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.52 | 0.42 | IWM | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.106 | 0.107 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.14 | 0.08 | IWM | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | VTWO | SIVR | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | −0.2% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.36 | −0.92 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.6% to +0.4% | −0.6% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.02 | −0.19 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.0% | 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
IWM and SLV on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IWM and SLV do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IWM follows Russell 2000 Index and SLV follows Silver.
- Cost. IWM charges 0.19% of assets a year and SLV 0.50%, a gap of 0.31 points.
- One-year total return (similar). Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IWM returned +14.1% and SLV +14.9% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 0.8 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
IWM
IWM tracks the Russell 2000. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +14.1% with distributions reinvested, against +14.3% for its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.19% 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 1,977 positions, with the top ten at 3.3%. It sat 7.6% 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, IWM or SLV?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IWM returned +14.1% and SLV +14.9%.
- Which is cheaper, IWM or SLV?
- IWM is cheaper, by 0.31 percentage points a year. That is about $31 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, IWM against SLV, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwm-vs-slv
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). IWM against SLV. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwm-vs-slv
[IWM against SLV (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwm-vs-slv)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.