# How iShares Gold Trust (IAU) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/iau
> 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 IAU alone. It places IAU (iShares Gold Trust) against 15 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 IAU stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: IAU's full trading record, from January 2005 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:** IAU's 0.25% fee costs about $320 more than IAUM's 0.09% on $10,000 over 20 years, for a fund that tracks the same thing.
- **Right now:** Over the past 6 months, IAU fell 14.5% while the S&P 500 rose 9.1%. IAU is 23.8% below its high, bear-market territory, while the S&P 500 sits 1.3% below a record.
- **Fund or market?:** IAU rose 2.8% over the past 3 months, in line with the S&P 500, which rose 3.9%: a market move, not its own.
- **Long term:** IAU turned $10,000 into $31,800 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. Even so, the past 5 years have been the better stretch: IAU rose 128% against 81.7% for the S&P 500, after trailing over the decade.
- **In a crash:** IAU has tended to fall less than the S&P 500 in crashes, about 61% of the index's decline. The Covid crash took 12.5% off IAU, against 33.7% for the S&P 500, and less than similar funds such as GLTR (abrdn Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF, 23.3%).
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, IAU 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, IAU's beta versus the S&P 500 was 0.14: 40% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 3% of its losses in falling ones.
- **Better options**
  - **Popular alternatives:** WPM (Wheaton Precious Metals) and GDX (VanEck Gold Miners ETF) were ahead of IAU in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (36.9% and 38.2% volatility against 18.9%).
  - **Same exposure, lower fee:** A cheaper fund that has kept up over the past decade is SGOL (abrdn Physical Gold Shares ETF, 0.17% a year against 0.25%).
  - **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 IAU with less volatility over the past 5 years.

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

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in IAU over the past 20 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of IAU over the same span and IAU's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in IAU at the end of September 2006 would have grown to $65,633 by September 2026, less than the $82,294 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of IAU, and AAPL finished highest, at $1,447,888.

## IAU 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.

- IAU is still 23.8% below its all-time high.
- IAU's deepest decline since it began trading in 2005 was 45.1%, from August 2011 to December 2015. It took about five years from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over 20 full calendar years, IAU's best was 2025, when it returned 63.9%, 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: January 28, 2005
- Assets: $62B
- Expense ratio: 0.25%
- Volatility (5 years): 18.9%; Sharpe ratio: 0.97
- Worst decline ever: −45.1%, from August 22, 2011 to December 2, 2015; back at its high by July 27, 2020

| Period | IAU total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | −5.2% |
| 3 months | +2.8% |
| 6 months | −14.5% |
| year to date | −5.1% |
| 1 year | −6.1% |
| 3 years | +107% |
| 5 years | +128% |
| 10 years | +218% |

## IAU against the whole market

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

### How does IAU rank among all ETFs?

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

- IAU'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.
- IAU's 1-year return ranks in the bottom 6% of the 2,485 ETFs with at least $100 million in assets with 1 year of history.

| Measure | IAU | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | −6.1% | 2,347 of 2,485 (top 95%) |
| 3-year return | +107% | 184 of 1,949 (top 10%) |
| 5-year return | +128% | 75 of 1,560 (top 5%) |
| 10-year return | +218% | 230 of 958 (top 25%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 18.9% | 1,027 of 1,560 (top 66%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 0.97 | 139 of 1,560 (top 9%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −26.4% | 157 of 951 (top 17%) |

### What has beaten IAU 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 IAU over the past 5 years with less volatility: nothing sits in the green region.

### Is there a better investment than IAU?

The table below lists investments that beat IAU 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 IAU's popular alternatives, WPM and GDX were ahead of IAU in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (36.9% and 38.2% volatility against 18.9%).
- A cheaper fund that has kept up over the past decade is SGOL (0.17% a year against 0.25%).
- 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 IAU with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## IAU against its popular alternatives

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

### How do IAU'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 SGOL was both more rewarding and calmer than IAU over the past 5 years, earning a higher annual return with lower volatility.
- Over the past 5 years, IAU returned 17.9% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (18.9% against 17.1%).

### Has IAU consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

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

- WPM and GDX outperformed IAU in every long-term period and in all but one short-term period, the most consistent record in the group.
- Two of the 15 popular alternatives, WPM and GDX, outperformed IAU 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 IAU (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 IAU | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IAU: iShares Gold Trust (this page) | −6.1% | +107% | +128% | +218% |  |  | 0.97 |
| [WPM](https://easycompare.io/research/wpm): Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. | +25.2% | +212% | +236% | +510% | 4/5 short-term, 3/3 long-term | all-weather | 0.85 |
| 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, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.64 |
| TIP: iShares TIPS Bond ETF | −1.5% | +13.3% | −0.3% | +23.5% | 4/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.02 |
| GLTR: abrdn Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF | −2.9% | +106% | +101% | +191% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.69 |
| DBP: Invesco DB Precious Metals Fund | −4.0% | +107% | +117% | +181% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.82 |
| SGOL: abrdn Physical Gold Shares ETF | −6.1% | +107% | +129% | +218% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.98 |
| OUNZ: VanEck Merk Gold ETF | −6.2% | +106% | +128% | +216% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.97 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | −6.3% | +106% | +126% | +213% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.96 |
| 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 |
| IAUM: iShares Gold Trust Micro | −5.9% | +108% | +130% | — | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.99 |

### How did IAU do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 2006, along with where IAU ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, IAU finished in the top quarter in ten of 19 years and in the bottom quarter in one. In 2025, it ranked 8 of 9.
- IAU finished ahead of the S&P 500 in ten of its 20 full calendar years, and ahead of it in each of the last two.
- Among its popular alternatives, WPM came out ahead of IAU most often, in 13 of the 20 years both traded.

| Year | IAU | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +63.9% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +26.9% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +12.8% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | −0.6% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | −4.0% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | +25.0% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +18.0% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | −1.8% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | +12.9% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | +8.3% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How IAU 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 IAU's worst declines?

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

- In four of IAU's five worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: IAU fell 45.1% from August 2011 to December 2015, while the S&P 500 rose 102%.
- The slowest recovery came after IAU fell 45.1% 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −45.1% | August 22, 2011 | December 2, 2015 | July 27, 2020 | +102% | 2015 China and oil sell-off |
| −29.2% | 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% | May 11, 2006 | June 14, 2006 | September 18, 2007 | −5.7% |  |
| −21.8% | August 6, 2020 | September 26, 2022 | March 4, 2024 | +12.6% | 2022 bear market |

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

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

- IAU fell less than the S&P 500 in all nine crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2008 financial crisis, when IAU fell 29.2% and the S&P 500 fell 55.2%.
- Among its popular alternatives, TIP held up best, falling less than IAU in seven of the nine crashes they both traded through.

| Crash | Dates | IAU 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 | −29.2% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | −0.1% | −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 | −11.6% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −1.8% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −2.6% | −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 | −20.9% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | 0.0% | −3.4% |

### How closely does IAU 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.

- Over the past 10 years, IAU 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.
- Only SGOL had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than IAU's 13.05, out of eight popular alternatives with the same record.

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

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IAU: iShares Gold Trust (this page) | 40.0% | 3.0% | 0.14 |
| [WPM](https://easycompare.io/research/wpm): Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. | 78.0% | 37.0% | 0.48 |
| 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 |
| TIP: iShares TIPS Bond ETF | 15.0% | 17.0% | 0.18 |
| GLTR: abrdn Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF | 51.0% | 32.0% | 0.27 |
| DBP: Invesco DB Precious Metals Fund | 44.0% | 21.0% | 0.22 |
| SGOL: abrdn Physical Gold Shares ETF | 40.0% | 3.0% | 0.14 |

### What diversifies IAU?

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 IAU into SPMO would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 18% over the past 5 years and raised its annual return (+18.5% for IAU alone, +19.8% for the mix).
- MPC made money in five of the six calendar years in which IAU lost money.
- Among large ETFs, LVHI, DXJ and EMLP have moved largely independently of IAU over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.37 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.

| Investment | Correlation with IAU | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in IAU'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 | 0.28 | +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 IAU's worst drawdown?

IAU's deepest decline since it began trading in 2005 was 45.1%, from August 2011 to December 2015. It took about five years from the low to climb back to its old high. Because IAU launched in January 2005, that record does not include the dot-com bust.

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

Over 20 full calendar years, IAU's best year was 2025, when it returned 63.9%. Its worst was 2013, with a return of -28.3%.

### Is there a better investment than IAU?

Among IAU's popular alternatives, WPM and GDX were ahead of IAU in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (36.9% and 38.2% volatility against 18.9%). A cheaper fund that has kept up over the past decade is SGOL (0.17% a year against 0.25%).

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

Yes. IAU'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, IAU'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 IAU's Sharpe ratio?

IAU's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 0.97, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so IAU 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 IAU with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, IAU'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 IAU instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a IAU holding.

### What are the best alternatives to IAU?

Of the 15 popular alternatives we compared, two outperformed IAU in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, with dividends reinvested: WPM and GDX.

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

IAU finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in ten of 20 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +63.9%, against +17.7% for the index.

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

IAU 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 IAU fell 29.2% and the S&P 500 fell 55.2%.

### What diversifies IAU?

These had a low correlation with IAU 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 0.05), 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/iau
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against IAU live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=IAU&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research