SPDR® Gold MiniShares®

What this fund is

SPDR® Gold MiniShares® is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) from SPDR, traded under the ticker GLDM (ISIN US98149E3036). In a single purchase you get a diversified basket of holdings rather than a stake in just one business. In plain terms it is about tracking physical commodities like gold or oil, which often move differently from shares and are used to spread risk or hedge inflation, spread across its target market. It follows the LBMA Gold Price PM index (passive investing): it tracks the market rather than relying on a manager, keeping running costs down.

It is typically held as a diversifier — a slice that behaves differently from mainstream shares — rather than as a portfolio's main engine. Its ongoing charge (TER) is 0.1% a year — about €10 a year on a €10,000 holding, taken automatically from the fund. It holds the underlying investments directly (physical replication); it is domiciled in the United States and trades in USD. Its price has swung about 27.6% over the past year, which describes how much its price tends to move rather than whether it is good.

It launched in 2018. As with any investment, its value can go down as well as up, and past performance is not a guide to future results. (Fund data sourced from SPDR.)