GDX vs SGDJ

GDXBVanEck Gold Miners ETF

SGDJBSprott Junior Gold Miners ETF

In short

GDX The 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.

SGDJ Junior gold, filtered. Sprott runs roughly 30 explorers, developers and producers through a revenue-growth and price-momentum screen instead of owning the entire junior bench by size alone.

Stated mandate

GDX 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.

SGDJ The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive Junior Gold Miners Custom Factor Index. It uses passive indexing and invests primarily in junior gold companies, including exploration-stage companies, developers and producers.

Why people hold it

• GDX 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.

• SGDJ The screen is the whole point: the index tilts toward junior miners with better revenue growth and price momentum, not just whatever is small and listed.
• 0.50% a year, a shade under the median for precious-metals miner funds and under GDXJ's 0.52% for the broader junior basket.
• Trading since 2015 from a house built around precious metals, and it sits in the upper half of its miner peer group on our review.
• Rules-based and passive: it follows a published Solactive index rather than a manager's stock picks, so you can see what the portfolio is chasing.

Worth knowing

• GDX 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.

• SGDJ Juniors are the jumpy end of an already jumpy sector. Exploration-stage names move on drill results and financing, not only on the gold price.
• About 30 holdings, spread across US, developed, emerging and frontier listings. Concentration means one company's news lands harder than in a broad miner index.
• Moderately traded rather than a top-of-book name, so spreads deserve a look and limit orders earn their keep.

Full GDX profile⁠

Full SGDJ profile⁠