SGDM vs SILJ

SGDMBSprott Gold Miners ETF

SILJCAmplify Junior Silver Miners ETF

In short

SGDM SGDM doesn't just rank gold miners by size. It tracks a custom-factors index of roughly 50 larger miners listed in Canada and the US, and charges 0.46%, under its peer group's median fee.

SILJ The original junior-silver play. Since 2012 SILJ has done one job: passively track an index of roughly 70 small silver miners, producers and explorers, the high-octane end of a niche most metals funds cover with gold.

Stated mandate

SGDM The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive Gold Miners Custom Factors Index, which targets larger gold companies listed on Canadian and major U.S. exchanges.

SILJ The Fund is a passively managed ETF seeking results that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to an index focused on companies engaged in silver mining.

Why people hold it

• SGDM Fee of 0.46% sits under the median for precious-metals miner funds, and under both GDX (0.51%) and GDXJ (0.52%).
• Rules-based and named out loud: it follows the Solactive Gold Miners Custom Factors Index (SOLGMCFT), and it has stayed close to that stated mandate.
• Running since 2014, a long life for a thematic fund, and it holds about 50 larger gold companies rather than a sprawling list.
• Lands in the upper half of the gold and silver miner group in our review, with high confidence in the underlying data.

• SILJ Pure junior-silver mandate: the index holds companies that earn most of their revenue from silver mining, production or exploration, not a gold fund with a silver garnish.amplifyetfs.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, which matters in a corner of the market built from thin, tiny stocks.
• Rules over hunches: a passive fund that rebalances when its Nasdaq index does, with roughly 70 holdings and a published methodology behind them.amplifyetfs.com
• Launched in 2012, it has run through several silver cycles and kept the same strategy through a change of sponsor to Amplify and an index renaming in 2024.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• SGDM Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so spreads can be wider and larger orders can push the price around.
• The index sticks to Canadian and major US listings, so gold miners quoted only on other exchanges sit outside the portfolio.
• One industry, driven by the gold price and how well mines actually run, so the ride is bumpier than a broad stock fund.

• SILJ The 0.69% expense ratio sits above the typical fee in its precious-metals-miner peer group. Specialist access has a sticker price.
• Non-diversified by design and concentrated in metals and mining, so a handful of names can drive the outcome.amplifyetfs.com
• Junior miners are the geared end of silver. The prospectus flags small-cap, foreign-issuer and commodity-price risks that move the fund in both directions.amplifyetfs.com

Full SGDM profile⁠

Full SILJ profile⁠