iShares Gold Trust
$80.64−1.39 (−1.69%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.25%
- Fund size
- $64.6B
- 1Y return
- +16.1%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- —
- Volume · 30D
- 5.9M sh
- NAV per share
- $81.38
- 52W range
The ETF.net IAU Grade
Score 58 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.DScore 26Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 100Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.CScore 49Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 58Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.Not scoredDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 82Category rank
Our read on IAU
BGold bars in a London vault, wrapped in a ticker since 2005. IAU is the veteran heavyweight of physical gold funds: bullion held by a custodian bank, priced off the London gold benchmark, tradable all day.
The Trust seeks to reflect the price of gold bullion, after accounting for its expenses and liabilities. It provides exposure to physical gold.
Why people hold it
- A twenty-year paper trail. Launched in 2005, with bullion held by JPMorgan Chase Bank's London branch and two decades of SEC filings anyone can read.sec.gov
- No futures, no swaps, no roll mechanics. Each share is a fractional undivided interest in gold the trust actually holds, marked to the LBMA gold price.sec.gov
- Costs less than the original US gold ETF: 0.25% a year against GLD's 0.40%. It's also one of the most actively traded funds in the physical gold group.
- Simple mandate, cleanly executed: the trust aims to reflect the gold price minus its expenses, and it has tracked that job about as closely as the structure allows.
Worth knowing
- Fees sit above the cohort median (0.25% vs 0.17%). iShares sells a micro version of the same exposure, IAUM, at 0.09%, and GLDM charges 0.10%.
- The trust earns no income, so it sells gold to pay the sponsor's fee. The gold behind each share declines over time, and shareholders get no distributions.sec.gov
- Tax wrinkle: gains on a trust holding gold are treated as collectibles gains, which can carry a higher top long-term rate than most stock gains.sec.gov
IAU Holdings
- Other
- —
- 100%
- Physical Gold
IAU Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
IAU$11,614
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 | IAU |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +1.1% |
| 1 month | −5.5% |
| 3 months | +4.1% |
| 1 year | +16.1% |
| 3 years | +31.0% |
| 5 years | +19.5% |
| 10 years | +12.3% |
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 | IAU |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +1.1% | |
| 2025 | +63.9% | |
| 2024 | +26.9% | |
| 2023 | +12.8% | |
| 2022 | −0.6% | |
| 2021 | −4.0% | |
| 2020 | +25.0% |
IAU in the news
IAU Dividends
No distributions in the last 12 months.
IAU Risk
- 18.7%
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.
- 1.33
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.
- −26.4%
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.
- 0.41
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
IAU Cost
0.25%
IAU0.25%
- The middle half of Physical Gold funds
- Median 0.17%
7 of the 10 Physical Gold funds charge less.