Which returned more over the last year, SLV or XLB?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SLV returned +14.9% and XLB +18.5%.

Which is cheaper, SLV or XLB?

XLB is cheaper, by 0.42 percentage points a year. That is about $42 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

SLV vs XLB: Differences, Returns & Fees

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SLV is a commodity fund and XLB an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, XLB returned +18.5% against +14.9%.

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Net assets: $26.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Silver Trust, and $8.1bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF.

SLV on its own →XLB on its own →

At a glance

+14.9%

SLV total return, 1 year

+18.5%

XLB total return, 1 year

0.50%

SLV expense ratio

0.08%

XLB expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLB costs 0.42 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.6 points; SLV is 3.3 times larger.

SLV vs XLB: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	SLV	XLB
Return
Measure	SLV	XLB
Total return, 1 year	+14.9%	+18.5%
Drawdown
Measure	SLV	XLB
Below its high	53.5%, high on Jan 28, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	SLV	XLB
What it tracks	Silver	Materials Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	SLV	XLB
Expense ratio	0.50%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$26.5bn	$8.1bn
Holdings
Measure	SLV	XLB
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		58.5%

Method

Side by side

SLV iShares Silver Trust XLB State Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds silver Tracks an index of Materials

Total return, 1 year +14.9% +18.5%

Its benchmark over the same days +15.0% (SIVR) not measured

Gap to its benchmark −0.1 pts vs SIVR not measured

Expense ratio 0.50% 0.08%

Holdings not counted 25

Net assets, SLV as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLB as of Oct 27, 2026 $26.9bn $8.1bn

SLV and XLB on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

SLV

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.

XLB

XLB tracks an index of Materials. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +18.5% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% 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 25 positions, with the top ten at 58.5%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, SLV or XLB?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SLV returned +14.9% and XLB +18.5%.
Which is cheaper, SLV or XLB?: XLB is cheaper, by 0.42 percentage points a year. That is about $42 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

SLV vs XHB SLV vs XLF SLV vs XLRE SLV vs VPU GLDM vs XLB GLD vs XLB USO vs XLB BWET vs XLB

Where to next

SLV on its own →XLB on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →XLB dividend history →XLB holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

iShares page for SLV ↗

XLB filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLB prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

State Street website ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, SLV against XLB, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/slv-vs-xlb

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.