VanEck Gold Miners ETF
$94.17−3.65 (−3.74%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.51%
- Fund size
- $28.1B
- 1Y return
- +32.5%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 0.65%
- Holdings
- 57
- Volume · 30D
- 22.7M sh
- NAV per share
- $94.52
- 52W range
The ETF.net GDX Grade
Score 64 of 100 sits in the B band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.CScore 50Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.Not scoredRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.BScore 61Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 93Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.BScore 61Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 88Category rank
Our read on GDX
BThe original gold miner ETF, running since 2006. Roughly 60 mining companies in one ticker, for people who want equity exposure to gold's economics rather than a bar in a vault.
GDX seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MarketVector Global Gold Miners Index, which is designed to represent companies involved in gold mining.
Why people hold it
- Launched in 2006, this is the elder statesman of gold mining funds: a multi-billion-dollar portfolio that is very actively traded, which usually means easy entries and exits.
- Owns the diggers, not the metal. It tracks the MarketVector Global Gold Miners Index, roughly 60 companies whose profits swing on the gap between gold prices and mining costs.
- At a 0.51% expense ratio it sits right at the typical price for a precious-metals miner fund, and it grades in the top quartile of its 18-fund peer group.
Worth knowing
- Cheaper shelf-mates exist. RING covers global gold miners at 0.39%, so you are paying a bit extra here, largely for scale and trading depth.
- Miner stocks are not bullion. They carry operating costs, debt, labor and country risk on top of the gold price, so moves tend to be sharper in both directions.
- Distributions come annually or semiannually, so this is an equity growth vehicle rather than a steady income line.
GDX Holdings
- Other
- 57
- 58%
- NEM
Sectors
- Materials100.0%
Geography
- Canada55.79%
- United States22.84%
- Australia8.27%
- South Africa5.27%
- Mexico2.51%
- United Kingdom1.71%
- Hong Kong1.14%
- Indonesia1.09%
- 1.37%
Developed 87% · Emerging 13%
GDX Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
GDX$13,254
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | GDX |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +14.1% |
| 1 month | −4.9% |
| 3 months | +20.1% |
| 1 year | +32.5% |
| 3 years | +52.0% |
| 5 years | +28.0% |
| 10 years | +14.5% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | GDX |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +14.1% | |
| 2025 | +154.7% | |
| 2024 | +10.6% | |
| 2023 | +10.0% | |
| 2022 | −9.0% | |
| 2021 | −9.5% | |
| 2020 | +23.7% |
GDX in the news
GDX Dividends
- 0.65%
- $0.63
- $0.63 per share
- Annual
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 22, 2025 | Dec 26, 2025 | $0.63 |
| Dec 23, 2024 | Dec 24, 2024 | $0.40 |
| Dec 18, 2023 | Dec 22, 2023 | $0.50 |
| Dec 19, 2022 | Dec 23, 2022 | $0.48 |
| Dec 20, 2021 | Dec 27, 2021 | $0.53 |
| Dec 21, 2020 | Dec 28, 2020 | $0.19 |
| Dec 23, 2019 | Dec 30, 2019 | $0.19 |
| Dec 20, 2018 | Dec 27, 2018 | $0.11 |
| Dec 18, 2017 | Dec 22, 2017 | $0.18 |
| Dec 19, 2016 | Dec 23, 2016 | $0.06 |
| Dec 21, 2015 | Dec 28, 2015 | $0.12 |
| Dec 22, 2014 | Dec 29, 2014 | $0.12 |
GDX Risk
- 40.0%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 1.13
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −46.5%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.81
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
GDX Cost
0.51%
GDX0.51%
- The middle half of Precious Metals Miners funds
- Median 0.52%
8 of the 18 Precious Metals Miners funds charge less.