4 Best Gold ETFs to Hedge Against Stock Volatility (May 2025)
Gold ETFs can help diversify your portfolio and hedge against down markets.
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Gold is a popular investment for those looking to hedge against stock market uncertainty and inflation. And so far in 2025, investors have flocked to gold with gusto — the asset has hit several new all-time highs, and broke the $3,000 barrier for the first time ever in March. As volatility and feared gripped the markets in April, gold continued to rise, hitting a fresh all-time high on April 21.
As the metal continues to grab headlines, investing in gold exchange-traded funds (as opposed to bullion itself) has risen in popularity, evidenced by strong North American inflows in Q1 and record Chinese inflows in early April .
Below is our complete list of best-performing gold ETFs. We exclude gold exchange-traded notes and leveraged gold ETFs, which may come with added risk or fees.
Best-performing gold ETFs
Today's gold price is $3,173.50 per ounce. The best performing gold ETF by one-year return is FGDL, which is up 35.67% in the past year, but the fund with the lowest expense ratio is IAUM. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Ticker | Company | Performance (Year) | Net Expense Ratio |
FGDL | Franklin Responsibly Sourced Gold ETF | 35.67% | 0.15% |
GLDM | SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust | 34.57% | 0.10% |
IAUM | iShares Gold Trust Micro | 34.51% | 0.09% |
AAAU | Goldman Sachs Physical Gold ETF | 34.46% | 0.18% |
Source: Finviz & Kitco. Data current as of May. 16, 2025. | |||
» Want to add these to your portfolio? See our list of the best brokers for ETF investing. These investment platforms offer a strong selection of tools for building a diversified portfolio, and our list only includes brokers who don't charge commissions for ETF trades.
What are gold ETFs?
Gold ETFs are exchange-traded funds that give investors exposure to gold without having to directly purchase, store and resell the precious metal. Some gold ETFs track the price of gold, while others invest in companies in the gold-mining industry.
As with other types of ETFs, the issuing company buys stock in gold-related companies or purchases and stores gold bullion itself. Investors buy shares in the fund, whose value rises and falls with the underlying gold price or company stock value.
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How to invest in gold ETFs
Here’s how to buy shares in a gold ETF:
Step 1: Find a gold ETF
You can typically find gold ETFs by searching for them on your broker's website. (No broker? Here's how to open a brokerage account.)
Step 2: Analyze the ETF
It's important to research ETFs before buying, just as you'd research stocks. Two things to check before purchasing shares in a gold ETF:
Five-year returns. Most (but not all) gold ETFs are pegged to spot gold price, so returns should align with gold price moves.
Expense ratio. This is the ETF's annual fee, paid out of your investment in the fund. Look for a low one.
And two important notes: The average investor may want to exercise caution around buying leveraged gold ETFs — these use financial derivatives and borrowed money to make bets on future price movements. Another asset to be cautious about is gold exchange-traded notes. ETNs are secured debt obligations that don’t actually own the underlying gold (unlike ETFs) and have a greater risk of credit default.
These investments are more for professional investors and generally not suitable for the buy-and-hold strategy favored by many retirement investors.
Step 3: Buy the gold ETF
You can buy ETFs through an online broker just like you’d buy a stock. One approach is to buy them regularly to take advantage of dollar-cost averaging.
» Ready to invest? See our list of the best brokers for ETF investing.
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Understand S&P 500 ETFs
Invest abroad? Check out China ETFs
