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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SLV returned +14.9% and XLF +7.6%.

Which is cheaper, SLV or XLF?

XLF 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 XLF: Differences, Returns & Fees

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SLV is a commodity fund and XLF an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SLV returned +14.9% against +7.6%.

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Net assets: $26.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Silver Trust, and $51.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF.

SLV on its own →XLF on its own →

At a glance

+14.9%

SLV total return, 1 year

+7.6%

XLF total return, 1 year

0.50%

SLV expense ratio

0.08%

XLF expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLF costs 0.42 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 7.3 points; XLF is 1.9 times larger.

SLV vs XLF: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	SLV	XLF
Return
Measure	SLV	XLF
Total return, 1 year	+14.9%	+7.6%
Drawdown
Measure	SLV	XLF
Below its high	53.5%, high on Jan 28, 2026	3.8%, high on Sep 3, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	SLV	XLF
What it tracks	Silver	Financial Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	SLV	XLF
Expense ratio	0.50%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$26.5bn	$51.6bn
Holdings
Measure	SLV	XLF
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		57.4%

Method

Risk and return

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

SLV XLF

Return

Total return edge SLV +248.1% +202.3%

Annualized edge SLV +6.3% +5.5%

Price return edge SLV +248.1% +63.6%

Risk

Volatility edge XLF 32.5% 27.2%

Max drawdown edge SLV (slight) −75.2% −82.7%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge SLV (slight) 0.30 0.27

Sortino edge SLV (slight) 0.42 0.39

Calmar edge SLV 0.08 0.07

Reading

SLV returned more: +248.1% to +202.3%. XLF swung less: 27.2% to 32.5%. SLV fell slightly less at its worst: −75.2% to −82.7%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: SLV vs XLF: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	SLV	XLF	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+248.1%	+202.3%	SLV	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+6.3%	+5.5%	SLV	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+248.1%	+63.6%	SLV	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	32.5%	27.2%	XLF	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	23.0%	18.7%	XLF	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−75.2%	−82.7%	SLV (slight)	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.30	0.27	SLV (slight)	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.42	0.39	SLV (slight)	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.08	0.07	SLV	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 XLF State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds silver Tracks an index of Financials

Total return, 1 year +14.9% +7.6%

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 77

Net assets, SLV as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLF as of Oct 27, 2026 $26.9bn $51.6bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-45D11CBEDD

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

What each follows. SLV follows Silver and XLF follows Financial Select Sector Index.
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 SLV returned +14.9% and XLF +7.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 7.3 points.
Cost. SLV charges 0.50% of assets a year and XLF 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.

XLF

XLF tracks an index of Financials. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +7.6% 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 77 positions, with the top ten at 57.4%. It sat 3.8% below its high of Sep 3, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, SLV or XLF?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SLV returned +14.9% and XLF +7.6%.
Which is cheaper, SLV or XLF?: XLF 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

KRE vs SLV SLV vs XLE SLV vs VNQ SLV vs VGT GLD vs XLF BWET vs XLF GLDM vs XLF IAU vs XLF

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for SLV ↗

XLF filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

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

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