GLDM vs IAU

GLDMASPDR Gold MiniShares Trust

IAUBiShares Gold Trust

In short

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.

IAU Gold 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.

Stated mandate

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

IAU 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

• 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.

• IAU 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

• 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.

• IAU 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

Full GLDM profile⁠

Full IAU profile⁠