BAR vs GLDM

BARBGraniteShares Gold Trust

GLDMASPDR Gold MiniShares Trust

In short

BAR Real bars in a London vault, listed one by one on the sponsor's site every day. BAR landed in 2017 as the boutique fee-fighter among gold trusts: no lending, no derivatives, a 0.17% sponsor fee.

GLDM The house that built the original gold ETF later built a cheaper one. GLDM holds physical gold bullion, charges 0.10% a year (a quarter of its older sibling's fee), and has grown into a multi-billion-dollar fund.

Stated mandate

BAR The Trust seeks to have each Share’s value reflect the value of its gold assets after accrued expenses and liabilities, providing a simple way to invest similarly to gold.

GLDM GLDM seeks to reflect the performance of gold bullion, less the fund's expenses.

Why people hold it

• BAR Bullion only: the gold sits in ICBC Standard Bank's London vault, lending of the metal isn't permitted, and the trust can't hold derivatives.graniteshares.comsec.gov
• You can check the claim: the bar list is published daily, and outside inspector Bureau Veritas visits the vault twice a year, one of those visits at random.graniteshares.comgraniteshares.com 2
• Plain passive plumbing: mirror the LBMA Gold Price PM less expenses. It has hugged that gold benchmark very tightly.

• GLDM Ten basis points a year for bullion exposure, below the typical fee among physical gold funds and a quarter of the 0.40% on GLD, the sponsor's original gold trust.
• Simple plumbing: a grantor trust that holds metal and seeks to reflect gold bullion less expenses. No futures roll, no swap counterparty, no miner-stock beta in the way.
• One of the strongest implementations in its peer group, and among the more actively traded gold funds, which tends to keep the spread you pay getting in and out modest.
• Launched in 2018 as the low-fee sibling to the 2004 original, it is now a large, established trust rather than a niche launch hoping to find an audience.

Worth knowing

• BAR No income here. Gold pays nothing, and the trust sells a sliver of its bullion to cover expenses, so the ounces behind each share drift down over time.graniteshares.com
• Cheaper doors to the same metal exist: GLDM and IAUM both undercut BAR's fee, and BAR is only moderately traded next to the category's volume leaders.
• Tax quirk of the wrapper: under current law, long-term gains on gold held through the trust are taxed as collectibles, at a maximum 28% rate.sec.gov

• GLDM Gold pays nothing. No dividends, no interest, and the trust covers its expenses out of the metal, so gold per share drifts down over time.
• One metal, one price. This is undiversified exposure to bullion, and gold can swing hard in both directions.
• A couple of rivals list lower headline fees (IAUM at 0.09%, FGDL at 0.00%) for similar physical gold exposure.

Full BAR profile⁠

Full GLDM profile⁠