GLD is one of the most popular ETFs in the world, offering exposure to an asset class that has become increasingly important to the asset allocation process in recent years. GLD can be used in a number of different ways; some may establish short term positions as a way of hedging against equity market volatility, dollar weakness, or inflation. Others may wish to include gold exposure as part of a long-term investment strategy. GLD is a relatively straightforward product; the underlying assets consist of gold bullion stored in secure vaults. As such, the price of this ETF can be expected to move in lock step with spot gold prices. The physically-backed nature of this product eliminates any of the uncertainties introduced through futures-based strategies, though investors also have the option to approach this precious metal through futures-based funds such as UBG and DGL.
The primary alternatives to GLD are other physically-backed gold ETFs, including AGOL, SGOL, and IAU. The first two on that list may appeal to investors looking to vault their gold outside of New York and London; AGOL stores bullion in Singapore, while SGOL’s vaults are located in Switzerland. IAU is, in our opinion, represents a better way to play gold through the exchange-traded structure. While the underlying assets are similar and interchangeable, the expense ratios on these two funds are not. IAU is cheaper by 15 basis points; that margin isn’t enormous, but is enough to essentially guarantee that GLD will lag behind IAU in terms of performance. Investors in IAU give up very little in the way of liquidity (that fund is massive as well) and will add a few basis points to their bottom lines.
Bigger isn’t always better; GLD is certainly an efficient tool for adding gold to a portfolio, but there is a better option out there that should be appealing particularly to cost conscious investors.
Segment | Commodities: Precious Metals Gold |
Category | Precious Metals |
Focus | Gold |
Niche | Physically Held |
Strategy | Vanilla |
Weighting Scheme | Single Asset |
This section compares how balanced and deep this ETF is relative to its peers.
GLD | ETF Database Category Average | FactSet Segment Average | |
---|---|---|---|
Number of Holdings | 1 | 1 | 1 |
% of Assets in Top 10 | 100.00% | 94.74% | 100.00% |
% of Assets in Top 15 | 100.00% | 94.74% | 100.00% |
% of Assets in Top 50 | 100.00% | 94.74% | 100.00% |
GLD | ETF Database Category Average | FactSet Segment Average | |
---|---|---|---|
Large (>12.9B) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Mid (>2.7B) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Small (>600M) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Micro (<600M) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
This section compares the P/E ratio of this ETF to its peers.
This section compares the dividend yield of this ETF to its peers.
GLD | ETF Database Category Average | FactSet Segment Average | |
---|---|---|---|
Dividend | N/A | $ 0.36 | $ 0.41 |
Dividend Date | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Annual Dividend Rate | N/A | $ 0.31 | $ 0.48 |
Annual Dividend Yield | N/A | 1.03% | 1.92% |
View charts featuring GLD price and volume data.
View charts featuring ETF fund flow data.
5 Day Net Flows: 51.8 M 1 Month Net Flows: -1.12 B 3 Month Net Flows: 1.87 B 6 Month Net Flows: 3.79 B 1 Year Net Flows: 817.17 M 3 Year Net Flows: -4.57 B 5 Year Net Flows: 614.79 M 10 Year Net Flows: 9.94 BView charts that break down the influence that fund flows and price had on overall assets.
5 Day Net AUM Change: 51.52 MThe adjacent table shows a Realtime Rating for several different metrics, including liquidity, expenses, performance, volatility, dividend, concentration of holdings in addition to an overall rating. The "A+ Metric Rated ETF" field, available to ETF Database Pro members, highlights the best rated ETF in the Precious Metals category for each metric. To view information on how the ETF Database Realtime Ratings work, click here.
This section compares the cost efficiency of this ETF to its peers.
Max ST Capital Gains Rate | 39.60% |
Max LT Capital Gains Rate | 28.00% |
Tax On Distributions | Return of Capital |
Distributes K1 | No |
GLD does not have an ESG score. There are no ESG themes that map to this ETF.
This section shows how this ETF has performed relative to its peers. Returns over 1 year are annualized.
GLD |
ETF Database
Category Average |
Factset Segment
Average |
|
---|---|---|---|
1 Month Return | -3.06% | -5.63% | -1.61% |
3 Month Return | 5.97% | 4.43% | 3.27% |
YTD Return | 28.47% | 19.63% | 15.19% |
1 Year Return | 30.11% | 20.11% | 16.19% |
3 Year Return | 13.75% | 7.77% | 6.72% |
5 Year Return | 12.38% | 6.72% | 4.07% |
The following charts reflect the geographic spread of GLD's underlying holdings.
The following charts reflect the allocation of GLD's underlying holdings.
This section shows how the volatility of this ETF compares to the peer group ETF Database Category.
5 Day Volatility | 54.50% |
20 Day Volatility | 21.44% |
50 Day Volatility | 16.63% |
200 Day Volatility | 15.86% |
Beta | 0.15 |
Standard Deviation | 21.04% |
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