SIVR vs SLV

SIVRAabrdn Physical Silver Shares ETF

SLVBiShares Silver Trust

In short

SIVR Silver bullion in a vault, wrapped in a ticker. SIVR has done that one job since 2009 at 0.30% a year, half the going rate for physical metal funds, and fee is most of the tracking gap here.

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

SIVR The Trust seeks to track the price of physical silver, after deducting its expenses.

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

• SIVR 0.30% a year, versus a 0.60% median across physical metal funds and 0.50% at the biggest silver trust, SLV. When the mandate is just holding metal, cost is the differentiator.
• The mandate is one sentence: track the price of physical silver after expenses. Real metal, not futures contracts, swaps, or miner stocks standing in for the metal.
• A multi-billion-dollar trust that trades actively, so entering and exiting is usually a routine order rather than a hunt for the other side.
• Running since 2009 and rated among the strongest implementations in the physical commodity group, on both cost and how closely it delivers its stated mandate.

• 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

• SIVR One metal, one price. Silver moves hard in both directions and there is no diversification inside the trust to soften it.
• Bullion generates no cash flow, so this is a price-only holding rather than an income one.
• It is a commodity trust, not a registered 1940 Act fund, so the legal protections and tax treatment differ from a standard stock or bond ETF.

• 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 SIVR profile⁠

Full SLV profile⁠