Gold doubled, silver nearly tripled since 2024. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF holds bullion. The Global X Silver Miners ETF owns 39 mining stocks including Coeur Mining. Different risks, different tax treatment, different returns.
Gold has more than doubled over the past two years. Silver has nearly tripled since the start of 2025, partly riding gold's coattails and partly driven by industrial demand from solar panels and battery storage. Investors who missed the move are now deciding how to catch it.
The choice between the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) and the Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL) is not really about gold versus silver. It is about whether you want exposure to the metal itself or to the companies that dig it out of the ground.
GLD holds physical bullion in vaults. SIL holds shares of 39 mining companies, all in basic materials. The top three holdings are Wheaton Precious Metals at 21.9%, Pan American Silver at 12.4%, and Coeur Mining (CDE) at 11%.
The performance numbers tell a story of timing. Over the trailing five years, GLD returned 17.5% annualized, beating SIL's 14%. Over three years, SIL turned in a 46% annualized return against GLD's 27.7%. The divergence reflects the explosive silver rally that started in 2023 and accelerated through the first half of 2026.
SIL charges 0.65% in expenses, compared with 0.40% for GLD. The higher fee is the price of operational leverage. Silver miners have fixed production costs that do not rise as fast as the metal price. When silver climbs, profits can grow faster than the underlying commodity. When silver falls, the reverse applies – miner stocks tend to drop harder than the metal itself.
Tax treatment is another dividing line. Physical gold ETFs like GLD are classified as collectibles in the U.S., carrying a top long-term capital gains rate of 28% and a short-term rate of 37% for positions held under a year. SIL shares are equities, subject to standard capital gains rates. Holding either fund inside a tax-advantaged account sidesteps the issue entirely.
The silver miners fund is an indirect play. Its performance correlates closely with the silver price, but not perfectly. Management decisions – share buybacks, dividend hikes, or merger premiums – can create returns that the metal alone does not deliver. Gold bullion just sits in a vault. GLD makes holding it simple, but it generates no cash flow and takes no action to boost shareholder value.
Coeur Mining, SIL's third-largest holding at 11%, has an Alpha Score of 54 out of 100 on AlphaScala, in the Mixed range. The fund's top two holdings, Wheaton Precious Metals and Pan American Silver, are streaming and mining companies that offer different risk profiles within the same sector. Wheaton is a royalty-and-streaming model, meaning it finances mines in exchange for the right to buy metal at a fixed price. Pan American is a traditional producer with operating mines across the Americas.
For an investor who wants the metal rally without taking corporate risk, GLD is the cleaner vehicle. There is no CEO to misjudge, no mine shutdown to worry about, no hedging program to misunderstand. The fund tracks the gold price, minus its 0.40% expense ratio.
For an investor who accepts the additional volatility of miner stocks in exchange for the upside leverage of fixed-cost production, SIL offers a different kind of exposure. The fund's returns over the past three years show what that leverage looks like when it works.
The rally in both metals has been one of the strongest in decades. Gold has more than doubled since mid-2024. Silver has nearly tripled from the same starting point. The question is not whether the trend will continue – nobody knows that – but which vehicle suits the bet.
More on the underlying assets at the GLD stock page, the CDE stock page, and the gold profile.
Prepared with AlphaScala editorial tooling from the source reporting linked above. Indexable analysis may include a cited Alpha Score value. Publishing checks screen each story before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.