Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
SHY vs SLV: Differences, Returns & Fees
SHY is a bond index fund and SLV a commodity fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SLV returned +14.9% against +1.6%.
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Net assets: $27.4bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF, and $26.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Silver Trust.
Pair scorecard
SHY costs 0.35 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 13.3 points.
| Measure | SHY | SLV |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +1.6% | +14.9% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 53.5%, high on Jan 28, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index | Silver |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.50% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $27.4bn | $26.5bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
Risk and return
May 5, 2006 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,068 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: SHY against BBSB, Apr 28, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026; SLV against SIVR, Jul 31, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026.
SLV returned more: +248.1% to +49.3%. SHY swung less: 1.4% to 32.5%. SHY fell less at its worst: −5.6% to −75.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | SHY | SLV | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +49.3% | +248.1% | SLV | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +2.0% | +6.3% | SLV | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +2.3% | +248.1% | SLV | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 1.4% | 32.5% | SHY | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 0.9% | 23.0% | SHY | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −5.6% | −75.2% | SHY | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 97.9% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.8% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.98 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.98 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.18 | 0.30 | SLV | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.27 | 0.42 | SLV | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | −0.012 | 0.107 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.35 | 0.08 | SHY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | BBSB | 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 | −0.96 | −0.92 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.1% | −0.6% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.43 | −0.19 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.2% | 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
SHY and SLV on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
SHY and SLV do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. SHY follows ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index and SLV follows Silver.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 SHY returned +1.6% and SLV +14.9% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 13.3 points.
- Cost. SHY charges 0.15% of assets a year and SLV 0.50%, a gap of 0.35 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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SHY
SHY tracks an index of 1-3 Year Treasury Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.6% with distributions reinvested, against +1.7% for its benchmark, the ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year.
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, SHY or SLV?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SHY returned +1.6% and SLV +14.9%.
- Which is cheaper, SHY or SLV?
- SHY is cheaper, by 0.35 percentage points a year. That is about $35 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, SHY against SLV, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/shy-vs-slv
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). SHY against SLV. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/shy-vs-slv
[SHY against SLV (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/shy-vs-slv)
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