Ride the Gold and Silver Rally: Choose GLD ETF's Steady Climb or SLV's High-Octane Surge

2 days ago 8

Neha Chamaria, The Motley Fool

Mon, December 22, 2025 astatine 5:21 AM CST 5 min read

SLV and GLD some connection nonstop vulnerability to precious metals, but GLD tracks golden portion SLV tracks silver.
GLD has little volatility and a smaller max drawdown implicit 5 years, making it little risky than SLV.
GLD is somewhat little costly to clasp annually and has importantly higher assets nether management.
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2025 has been an exceptional twelvemonth for golden and silver, arsenic good arsenic for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that way these 2 precious metals. iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT:SLV) and SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEMKT:GLD) some supply entree to carnal precious metals, but disagree successful underlying commodities, volatility, and outgo structures.

SLV is designed to bespeak the terms of silver, portion GLD aims to reflector the terms of golden bullion. Both are among the largest and astir liquid commodity ETFs, and truthful hugely fashionable among investors seeking vulnerability to precious metals without buying carnal bullion. But the hazard profiles and humanities returns of the 2 ETFs diverge, making them suitable for antithetic types of investors seeking vulnerability to precious metals.

Metric

SLV

GLD

Issuer	iShares	SPDR
Expense ratio	0.50%	0.40%
1-yr instrumentality (as of Dec. 19, 2025)	126.9%	66.8%
Beta	1.39	0.49
AUM	$34.1 billion	$146.9 billion

Beta measures terms volatility comparative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year play returns. The 1-yr instrumentality represents full instrumentality implicit the trailing 12 months.

Metric

SLV

GLD

Max drawdown (5 y)	(38.79%)	(21.03%)
Growth of $1,000 implicit 5 years	$2,499	$2,269

The SPDR Gold Shares is wholly backed by carnal gold, with 100% of the fund's portfolio comprising the precious metal. The ETF has been trading for implicit 21 years and is recognized arsenic the archetypal US-listed ETF backed by a carnal asset. There are nary assemblage tilts oregon quirks; the money offers axenic vulnerability to golden prices and is among the largest commodity ETFs successful the world.

iShares Silver Trust, connected the different hand, is designed to bespeak the terms show of metallic and is besides 100% concentrated successful its people commodity. Like GLD, it does not present assemblage oregon geographic tilts. Given its inception successful 2006, SLV is the world's oldest and largest metallic ETF.

Both funds are straightforward successful their plan and supply the easiest mode to summation vulnerability to the prices of precious metals. The quality successful the underlying commodity, however, tin pb to terms swings.

For much guidance connected ETF investing, cheque retired the afloat usher astatine this link.