GLTR vs SLV

GLTRBabrdn Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF

SLVBiShares Silver Trust

In short

GLTR Gold, silver, platinum and palladium in one wrapper, all held as physical bullion. GLTR is the rare one-ticker version of the entire precious-metals complex, running since 2010, and it owns the metal instead of renting exposure through futures.

SLV Silver, unbundled: real bars sitting with a custodian, a share price that shadows the LBMA Silver Price less a 0.50% fee. Trading since 2006 and one of the busiest commodity funds on the tape, it's the default way people put silver in a brokerage account.

Stated mandate

GLTR The Trust holds a physical bullion basket containing gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in specified proportions, with baskets issued against bullion deposits and bullion distributed on redemptions.

SLV The Trust seeks to reflect the performance of silver prices before its expenses and liabilities. Its assets consist primarily of silver held by a custodian.

Why people hold it

• GLTR Four metals, one ticker: the trust holds physical gold, silver, platinum and palladium in set proportions, with baskets created and redeemed in bullion rather than cash.aberdeeninvestments.com
• Trading since 2010 and now a multi-billion-dollar trust: one of the longest-standing ways to own the full metals basket inside a brokerage account.
• Because it holds bullion outright, its results have tracked the underlying metals basket closely, less expenses, among the tighter records in the physical-commodity group.
• The 0.60% fee sits right at the median for physically backed commodity funds, so the four-metal convenience is not priced above the category norm.

• SLV The deep end of the silver pool: running since 2006, a multi-billion-dollar trust, and very actively traded, which is what keeps spreads tight and the options market busy.
• Metal, not machinery. Assets are physical silver held by a custodian and priced off the LBMA Silver Price. No futures roll, no miner earnings, no swap counterparty.sec.gov
• 0.50% a year, under the typical physical-metal trust, and the design is about as plain as it gets: bullion price minus expenses, tracked closely.

Worth knowing

• GLTR Single-metal siblings cost less: SIVR charges 0.30% and SLV 0.50%. Bundling four metals into one line item costs a little more than buying one.
• The proportions are set by the trust, and platinum and palladium bring industrial demand swings a gold-only holding does not. You cannot dial the mix yourself.
• No income here. It is a grantor trust holding metal, pays no distributions, and volume is moderate rather than heavy, so spreads deserve a glance.

• SLV SIVR runs the same physical-silver idea for 0.30%. The extra fee here buys size and trading depth, not different metal.
• No income. Bullion pays nothing, and the trustee sells silver to cover expenses, so the metal behind each share slowly shrinks.sec.gov
• One metal, one price. Nothing inside the trust cushions a silver drawdown, and silver is a jumpy market by nature.

Full GLTR profile⁠

Full SLV profile⁠