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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SLV returned +14.9% and XLE +61.2%.

Which is cheaper, SLV or XLE?

XLE 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 XLE: Differences, Returns & Fees

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SLV is a commodity fund and XLE an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, XLE returned +61.2% against +14.9%.

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Net assets: $26.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Silver Trust, and $45.2bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF.

SLV on its own →XLE on its own →

At a glance

+14.9%

SLV total return, 1 year

+61.2%

XLE total return, 1 year

0.50%

SLV expense ratio

0.08%

XLE expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLE costs 0.42 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 46.3 points; XLE is 1.7 times larger.

SLV vs XLE: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	SLV	XLE
Return
Measure	SLV	XLE
Total return, 1 year	+14.9%	+61.2%
Drawdown
Measure	SLV	XLE
Below its high	53.5%, high on Jan 28, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	SLV	XLE
What it tracks	Silver	Energy Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	SLV	XLE
Expense ratio	0.50%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$26.5bn	$45.2bn
Holdings
Measure	SLV	XLE
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		78.1%

Method

Risk and return

May 5, 2006 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,068 weekly returns

SLV XLE

Return

Total return edge XLE +248.1% +330.1%

Annualized edge XLE +6.3% +7.4%

Price return edge SLV +248.1% +135.6%

Risk

Volatility edge XLE 32.5% 28.0%

Max drawdown edge XLE (slight) −75.2% −68.9%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge XLE 0.30 0.34

Sortino edge XLE (slight) 0.42 0.47

Calmar edge XLE 0.08 0.11

Reading

XLE returned more: +330.1% to +248.1%. XLE swung less: 28.0% to 32.5%. XLE fell slightly less at its worst: −68.9% to −75.2%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: SLV vs XLE: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	SLV	XLE	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+248.1%	+330.1%	XLE	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+6.3%	+7.4%	XLE	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+248.1%	+135.6%	SLV	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	32.5%	28.0%	XLE	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	23.0%	20.2%	XLE	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−75.2%	−68.9%	XLE (slight)	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.30	0.34	XLE	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.42	0.47	XLE (slight)	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.08	0.11	XLE	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

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

SLV iShares Silver Trust XLE State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds silver Tracks an index of Energy

Total return, 1 year +14.9% +61.2%

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 22

Net assets, SLV as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLE as of Oct 27, 2026 $26.9bn $45.2bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-56E90ED934

SLV and XLE do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. SLV follows Silver and XLE follows Energy Select Sector Index.
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 SLV returned +14.9% and XLE +61.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 46.3 points.
Cost. SLV charges 0.50% of assets a year and XLE 0.08%, a gap of 0.42 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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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.

XLE

XLE tracks an index of Energy. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +61.2% 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 22 positions, with the top ten at 78.1%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, SLV or XLE?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SLV returned +14.9% and XLE +61.2%.
Which is cheaper, SLV or XLE?: XLE 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 VDE SLV vs XOP IYE vs SLV SLV vs XLV GLDM vs XLE GLD vs XLE USO vs XLE BWET vs XLE

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for SLV ↗

XLE filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLE 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 XLE, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/slv-vs-xle

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