# How SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/gld
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on GLD alone. It places GLD (SPDR Gold Shares) against 13 popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where GLD stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: GLD's full trading record, from November 2004 through September 2026. The crash tests reach back to 2000 using older funds and the S&P 500. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **What you're buying:** GLD's 0.40% fee costs about $620 more than IAUM's 0.09% on $10,000 over 20 years, for a fund that tracks the same thing.
- **Right now:** GLD has gone against the market, falling 14.6% over the past 6 months while the S&P 500 rose 9.1%. GLD is 23.8% below its high, bear-market territory, while the S&P 500 sits 1.3% below a record.
- **Fund or market?:** GLD rose 2.7% over the past 3 months, in line with the S&P 500, which rose 3.9%: a market move, not its own.
- **Long term:** GLD turned $10,000 into $31,300 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. That said, the past 5 years have been the better stretch: GLD rose 126% against 81.7% for the S&P 500, after trailing over the decade.
- **In a crash:** Across six sell-offs, GLD has typically lost about 61% as much as the S&P 500. The Covid crash took 12.5% off GLD, against 33.7% for the S&P 500.
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, GLD has a correlation of 0.16 over 5 years, less closely than 97% of ETFs with at least $100 million in assets. Next to an index fund it is a real diversifier. Over 10 years GLD kept more of the market's gains than of its losses: 40% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 3% of its losses in falling ones, with a beta of 0.14.
- **Better options**
  - **Popular alternatives:** GDX (VanEck Gold Miners ETF) was ahead of GLD in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (38.2% volatility against 18.9%).
  - **Same exposure, lower fee:** SGOL (abrdn Physical Gold Shares ETF) tracks the same thing for 0.17% a year against GLD's 0.40%, and has kept pace over the past decade: about $230 less in fees on $10,000 over 10 years.
  - **Whole market:** Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than GLD with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## How much would $10,000 in GLD have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in GLD over the past 16 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of GLD over the same span and GLD's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in GLD at the end of September 2010 would have grown to $29,773 by September 2026, less than the $88,503 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of GLD, and AAPL finished highest, at $392,248.

## GLD at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the fund, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- GLD is still 23.8% below its all-time high.
- GLD's deepest decline since it began trading in 2004 was 45.6%, from August 2011 to December 2015. It took about five years from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over 21 full calendar years, GLD's best was 2025, when it returned 63.7%, and its worst was 2013, when it lost 28.3%. It lost money in six of those years.

- Type: ETF, Commodities (Asset Management)
- Trading since: November 18, 2004
- Assets: $143B
- Expense ratio: 0.40%
- Volatility (5 years): 18.9%; Sharpe ratio: 0.96
- Worst decline ever: −45.6%, from August 22, 2011 to December 17, 2015; back at its high by July 29, 2020

| Period | GLD total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | −5.2% |
| 3 months | +2.7% |
| 6 months | −14.6% |
| year to date | −5.2% |
| 1 year | −6.3% |
| 3 years | +106% |
| 5 years | +126% |
| 10 years | +213% |

## GLD against the whole market

Where GLD ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does GLD rank among all ETFs?

This section ranks GLD on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every ETF worth at least $100 million with enough history.

- GLD's 5-year return ranks in the top 5% of the 1,560 ETFs with at least $100 million in assets with 5 years of history.
- GLD's 1-year return ranks in the bottom 5% of the 2,485 ETFs with at least $100 million in assets with 1 year of history.

| Measure | GLD | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | −6.3% | 2,353 of 2,485 (top 95%) |
| 3-year return | +106% | 193 of 1,949 (top 10%) |
| 5-year return | +126% | 76 of 1,560 (top 5%) |
| 10-year return | +213% | 250 of 958 (top 27%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 18.9% | 1,036 of 1,560 (top 67%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 0.96 | 149 of 1,560 (top 10%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −26.4% | 159 of 951 (top 17%) |

### What has beaten GLD on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- None of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than GLD over the past 5 years with less volatility: nothing sits in the green region.

### Is there a better investment than GLD?

The table below lists investments that beat GLD over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes, and, for funds, the same exposure at a lower expense ratio.

- Among GLD's popular alternatives, GDX was ahead of GLD in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (38.2% volatility against 18.9%).
- SGOL tracks the same thing for 0.17% a year against GLD's 0.40%, and has kept pace over the past decade: about $230 less in fees on $10,000 over 10 years.
- Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than GLD with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## GLD against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against GLD, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do GLD's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- Only IAUM was both more rewarding and calmer than GLD over the past 5 years, earning a higher annual return with lower volatility.
- Over the past 5 years, GLD returned 17.7% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (18.9% against 17.1%).

### Has GLD consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares GLD with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over eight periods from one month to ten years.

- GDX outperformed GLD in every long-term period and in all but one short-term period, the most consistent record in the group.
- Only one of the 13 popular alternatives, GDX, outperformed GLD in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes.
- IAUM, GLDM and AAAU earned more for the risk they took than GLD (a higher Sharpe ratio) and fell less in their worst decline of the past 10 years.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of GLD | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| GLD: SPDR Gold Shares (this page) | −6.3% | +106% | +126% | +213% |  |  | 0.96 |
| GDX: VanEck Gold Miners ETF | +7.9% | +203% | +181% | +283% | 4/5 short-term, 3/3 long-term | all-weather | 0.73 |
| GDXJ: VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF | +4.0% | +228% | +164% | +202% | 2/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 0.67 |
| SLV: iShares Silver Trust | +9.2% | +144% | +131% | +213% | 1/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 0.64 |
| IAUM: iShares Gold Trust Micro | −5.9% | +108% | +130% | — | 0/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.99 |
| PPLT: abrdn Physical Platinum Shares ETF | −0.2% | +80.8% | +52.4% | +66.9% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.42 |
| GLTR: abrdn Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF | −2.9% | +106% | +101% | +191% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.69 |
| SGOL: abrdn Physical Gold Shares ETF | −6.1% | +107% | +129% | +218% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.98 |
| [IAU](https://easycompare.io/research/iau): iShares Gold Trust | −6.1% | +107% | +128% | +218% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.97 |
| OUNZ: VanEck Merk Gold ETF | −6.2% | +106% | +128% | +216% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.97 |
| AAAU: Goldman Sachs Physical Gold ETF | −6.1% | +107% | +129% | — | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.98 |
| BAR: GraniteShares Gold Trust | −6.1% | +107% | +129% | — | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.98 |
| FGDL: Franklin Responsibly Sourced Gold ETF | −6.4% | +107% | — | — | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | — |
| GLDM: SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust | −6.0% | +108% | +130% | — | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.98 |

### How did GLD do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 2005, along with where GLD ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, GLD finished in the top quarter in nine of 15 years and in the bottom quarter in one. In 2025, it ranked 7 of 7.
- None of the five popular alternatives came out ahead of GLD in most of the years they have in common.
- GLD finished ahead of the S&P 500 in 11 of its 21 full calendar years, and ahead of it in each of the last two.

| Year | GLD | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +63.7% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +26.7% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +12.7% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | −0.8% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | −4.2% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | +24.8% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +17.9% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | −1.9% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | +12.8% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | +8.0% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How GLD has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were GLD's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In four of GLD's five worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: GLD fell 45.6% from August 2011 to December 2015, while the S&P 500 rose 98.3%.
- The slowest recovery came after GLD fell 45.6% from August 2011 to December 2015; it did not regain that peak until July 2020, five years later.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −45.6% | August 22, 2011 | December 17, 2015 | July 29, 2020 | +98.3% | 2015 China and oil sell-off |
| −29.4% | March 17, 2008 | November 12, 2008 | September 16, 2009 | −32.0% | 2008 financial crisis |
| −26.4% | January 29, 2026 | July 16, 2026 | not yet | +8.7% |  |
| −22.0% | August 6, 2020 | September 26, 2022 | March 4, 2024 | +12.6% | 2022 bear market |
| −21.8% | May 12, 2006 | June 14, 2006 | September 18, 2007 | −4.4% |  |

### How did GLD do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far GLD, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- GLD fell less than the S&P 500 in all nine crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2008 financial crisis, when GLD fell 29.4% and the S&P 500 fell 55.2%.
- None of its popular alternatives fell less than GLD in most of the crashes they both traded through.

| Crash | Dates | GLD fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | not trading | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | −29.4% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | −0.2% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −15.4% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −11.7% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −1.5% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −2.7% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −12.5% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −21.0% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | 0.0% | −3.4% |

### How closely does GLD move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- None of the five popular alternatives with the same record had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than GLD's 12.41.
- Over the past 10 years, GLD captured 40% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 3% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 0.14. That is a defensive profile: it gave up some of the market's upside in exchange for smaller losses.

Measured over the past 10 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| GLD: SPDR Gold Shares (this page) | 40.0% | 3.0% | 0.14 |
| GDX: VanEck Gold Miners ETF | 79.0% | 69.0% | 0.68 |
| GDXJ: VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF | 86.0% | 95.0% | 0.91 |
| SLV: iShares Silver Trust | 78.0% | 79.0% | 0.58 |
| PPLT: abrdn Physical Platinum Shares ETF | 56.0% | 80.0% | 0.61 |
| GLTR: abrdn Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF | 51.0% | 32.0% | 0.27 |

### What diversifies GLD?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in GLD into SPMO would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 18% over the past 5 years and raised its annual return (+18.3% for GLD alone, +19.7% for the mix).
- MPC made money in five of the six calendar years in which GLD lost money.
- Among large ETFs, LVHI, DXJ and EMLP have moved largely independently of GLD over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.37 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.

| Investment | Correlation with GLD | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in GLD's 6 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LVHI: Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF | 0.37 | +119% | 11.1% | 1.48 | 2 of 6 |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.22 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 5 of 6 |
| EMLP: First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund | 0.26 | +101% | 14.5% | 1.04 | 4 of 6 |
| HDV: iShares Core High Dividend ETF | 0.33 | +83.3% | 13.0% | 1.00 | 4 of 6 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.07 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 3 of 6 |
| DBEF: Xtrackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | 0.27 | +85.0% | 13.8% | 0.96 | 4 of 6 |
| SPMO: Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | -0.05 | +136% | 20.8% | 0.93 | 1 of 6 |
| [XLE](https://easycompare.io/research/xle): State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.10 | +177% | 25.5% | 0.93 | 3 of 6 |

## Common questions

### What was GLD's worst drawdown?

GLD's deepest decline since it began trading in 2004 was 45.6%, from August 2011 to December 2015. It took about five years from the low to climb back to its old high. Because GLD launched in November 2004, that record does not include the dot-com bust.

### What were GLD's best and worst years?

Over 21 full calendar years, GLD's best year was 2025, when it returned 63.7%. Its worst was 2013, with a return of -28.3%.

### Is there a better investment than GLD?

Among GLD's popular alternatives, GDX was ahead of GLD in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (38.2% volatility against 18.9%). SGOL tracks the same thing for 0.17% a year against GLD's 0.40%, and has kept pace over the past decade: about $230 less in fees on $10,000 over 10 years.

### Is GLD more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. GLD's volatility over the past 5 years was 18.9%, 1.1 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, GLD's return lands within 18.9% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is GLD's Sharpe ratio?

GLD's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 0.96, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so GLD earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is GLD with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, GLD's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.16 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They are only loosely linked, which makes it a real diversifier next to an index fund. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against GLD instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a GLD holding.

### What are the best alternatives to GLD?

Of the 13 popular alternatives we compared, one outperformed GLD in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, with dividends reinvested: GDX.

### Did GLD outperform the S&P 500?

GLD finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in 11 of 21 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +63.7%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did GLD do in stock market crashes?

GLD fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in nine of the nine major crashes it has traded through, and further in no. The clearest case was the 2008 financial crisis, when GLD fell 29.4% and the S&P 500 fell 55.2%.

### What diversifies GLD?

These had a low correlation with GLD over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, LVHI (correlation 0.37), DXJ (correlation 0.22) and EMLP (correlation 0.26); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.04), CLS (correlation -0.07) and FIX (correlation -0.00). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

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## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/gld
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against GLD live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=GLD&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research