abrdn Physical Gold Shares ETF (SGOL)
$39.68−0.15%close of Oct 16, 2026
abrdn Physical Gold Shares ETF (SGOL) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) run by abrdn (Aberdeen). Each share of this fund stands for a small amount of real gold bars kept in vaults. It charges 0.17% a year. From September 2009 to October 2026 it returned about 8.5% a year, and its worst drop was −45.5%.
Written by the Tactfolio research team. Fund facts checked October 17, 2026. Prices through October 16, 2026.
- Yearly fee
- 0.17%
- about $17 on $10,000
- 1-year return
- −3.4%
- to Oct 16, 2026
- Return per year
- 8.5%
- since September 2009
- Worst drop
- −45.5%
- since 2009
- Below its high
- −22.8%
- now
- Volatility
- 16.8%
- yearly swings
- Issuer
- abrdn (Aberdeen)
- Tracks
- LBMA Gold Price PM
- Started trading
- September 9, 2009
- Type
- Gold, ETF
- Expense ratio
- 0.17% a year
How has SGOL done since 2009?#
From September 2009 to October 2026, SGOL returned about 8.5% a year. The S&P 500 returned about 14.4% a year over the same dates. Say you put in $10,000 at the start. It would have been worth about $40,089 at the end, with every dividend reinvested.
| Period | SGOL | S&P 500 (SPY) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 month | −2.4% | 1.5% |
| 3 months | 4.8% | 1.9% |
| 6 months | −13.1% | 9.3% |
| Year to date | −3.4% | 12.8% |
| 1 year | −3.4% | 16.8% |
| 3 years per year | 29.3% | 22.0% |
| 5 years per year | 18.5% | 12.8% |
| 10 years per year | 12.5% | 15.4% |
| Since 2009 per year | 8.5% | 14.4% |
Periods longer than a year show the return per year (CAGR). Prices through October 16, 2026. Figures use daily closing prices adjusted for splits, with dividends reinvested. They do not include taxes or the cost of buying and selling. Past results do not tell you what will happen next.
SGOL returns by month and year#
SGOL rose in 107 of its 206 months (52%). Its best month was November 2009, at 12.8%. Its worst was June 2026, at −11.7%.
| Year | Total | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | −3.4% | 12.6 | 8.4 | −11.0 | −1.5 | −1.5 | −11.7 | 0.9 | 9.9 | −6.7 | 0.3 | ||
| 2025 | 64.0% | 6.8 | 1.9 | 9.4 | 5.5 | −0.1 | 0.4 | −0.5 | 5.0 | 11.8 | 3.6 | 5.4 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 26.9% | −1.5 | 0.4 | 8.8 | 3.1 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 5.4 | 2.1 | 5.1 | 4.3 | −3.1 | −1.4 |
| 2023 | 13.0% | 5.8 | −5.4 | 7.9 | 1.0 | −1.4 | −2.2 | 2.3 | −1.2 | −4.7 | 7.3 | 2.6 | 1.4 |
| 2022 | −0.5% | −1.6 | 6.1 | 1.4 | −2.1 | −3.2 | −1.5 | −2.6 | −3.0 | −2.8 | −1.8 | 8.5 | 3.1 |
| 2021 | −3.9% | −3.2 | −6.2 | −1.2 | 3.5 | 7.8 | −7.2 | 2.5 | 0.1 | −3.3 | 1.5 | −0.6 | 3.3 |
| 2020 | 25.0% | 4.5 | −0.6 | −0.2 | 7.3 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 10.8 | −0.3 | −4.2 | −0.5 | −5.4 | 7.0 |
| 2019 | 18.2% | 2.9 | −0.6 | −1.6 | −0.6 | 1.8 | 8.0 | 0.0 | 7.9 | −3.3 | 2.6 | −2.7 | 3.3 |
| 2018 | −1.9% | 2.8 | −1.7 | 0.6 | −0.5 | −1.5 | −3.8 | −2.0 | −2.3 | −0.6 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 4.9 |
| 2017 | 12.9% | 5.4 | 3.3 | −0.4 | 1.7 | −0.1 | −2.1 | 2.3 | 4.7 | −3.8 | 0.0 | −0.1 | 1.8 |
| 2016 | 8.0% | 5.4 | 10.9 | −0.8 | 5.0 | −6.1 | 8.9 | 2.1 | −3.2 | 0.6 | −3.0 | −8.3 | −2.0 |
| 2015 | −10.7% | 8.6 | −5.7 | −2.3 | −0.1 | 0.5 | −1.5 | −6.6 | 3.7 | −1.7 | 2.2 | −6.7 | −0.4 |
| 2014 | −2.1% | 3.4 | 6.3 | −3.1 | 0.5 | −3.1 | 6.3 | −3.6 | 0.4 | −6.2 | −3.1 | −0.4 | 1.3 |
| 2013 | −28.3% | −0.5 | −5.0 | 0.9 | −7.6 | −6.2 | −11.0 | 7.4 | 5.3 | −4.8 | −0.4 | −5.5 | −3.8 |
| 2012 | 6.6% | 11.4 | −2.9 | −1.4 | −0.2 | −6.3 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 4.8 | 4.8 | −3.0 | −0.5 | −2.4 |
| 2011 | 9.6% | −6.4 | 6.0 | 1.6 | 8.9 | −1.7 | −2.4 | 8.4 | 12.2 | −11.0 | 5.8 | 1.7 | −10.6 |
| 2010 | 29.2% | −1.3 | 3.2 | −0.4 | 5.9 | 3.0 | 2.4 | −5.1 | 5.8 | 4.7 | 3.7 | 2.1 | 2.5 |
| 2009 | 10.5% | 1.8 | 3.8 | 12.8 | −7.2 |
Each month runs from the last close of the month before. The first month counts from the first close.
How risky is SGOL compared with the S&P 500?#
Measured from October 2021 to October 2026, on the days both traded.
- Beta 0.17. When the S&P 500 moved 1% in a day, SGOL tended to move about 0.17%.
- Correlation 0.15. SGOL moved mostly on its own, apart from the S&P 500.
- Up and down months. In months the S&P 500 rose, SGOL rose 68% as much on average. In months it fell, SGOL fell 6% as much.
| Measure | SGOL | S&P 500 (SPY) |
|---|---|---|
| Return per year | 18.6% | 12.8% |
| Volatility | 18.8% | 17.1% |
| Worst drop | −26.3% | −24.5% |
| Sharpe ratio | 1.00 | 0.79 |
| Sortino ratio | 1.42 | 1.15 |
| Calmar ratio | 0.71 | 0.52 |
Volatility is how much the price swings in a year. The Sharpe ratio is return per unit of volatility, the Sortino ratio counts only the falls, and the Calmar ratio is the return per year over the worst drop. Higher ratios mean more return for the risk taken.
Is SGOL above its 200-day average?#
SGOL closed 7.8% below its 200-day average on October 16, 2026. A rule that holds SGOL only above that average would be out of it today.
- vs 200-day average
- −7.8%
- below it
- 50-day vs 200-day
- −4.2%
- trend falling
- vs 52-week high
- −22.8%
- high of $51.41
A moving average is the average close over the last so many days. Trend rules such as the 10-month moving average strategy hold a fund only while it is above one. You can build that rule for SGOL and backtest it in a minute.
What was SGOL’s worst drop?#
A drawdown is how far a fund falls from its last high point. SGOL’s worst fall was −45.5%, from August 22, 2011 to December 17, 2015. It got back to that high on July 28, 2020. On October 16, 2026 it was 22.8% below its highest close.
| Drop | From the high | To the bottom | Back to the high |
|---|---|---|---|
| −45.5% | Aug 22, 2011 | Dec 17, 20154.3 years | Jul 28, 20204.6 years |
| −26.3% | Jan 29, 2026 | Jul 16, 20266 months | Not yet |
| −21.6% | Aug 6, 2020 | Sep 26, 20222.1 years | Dec 27, 202315 months |
| −12.7% | Dec 2, 2009 | Feb 8, 20102 months | May 11, 20103 months |
| −10.1% | Oct 20, 2025 | Nov 4, 202515 days | Dec 22, 20252 months |
Big drops are normal for some funds. They matter because selling during a drop locks in the loss.
What does SGOL hold?#
Each share of this fund stands for a small amount of real gold bars kept in vaults. Its price follows the price of gold, minus the yearly fee. It does not pay interest or dividends.
It tracks the LBMA Gold Price PM.
What is the SGOL expense ratio?#
SGOL charges 0.17% a year. An expense ratio is the yearly fee a fund takes to run itself. On $10,000, a 0.17% fee comes to about $17 a year. Of the 162 ETFs on Tactfolio, 41% charge more.
You never get a bill for it. The fund takes the fee out of its own value a little each day.
Which Tactfolio strategies hold SGOL?#
No classic strategy holds SGOL yet. You can add it to your own rules in the builder and see how they would have done.
How does SGOL compare with similar ETFs?#
Funds that can stand in for SGOL:
- GLDM: SPDR Gold MiniShares, 0.1% a year
- BAR: GraniteShares Gold Trust, 0.1749% a year
- AAAU: Goldman Sachs Physical Gold ETF, 0.18% a year
- GLD: SPDR Gold Shares, 0.4% a year
See all 8 SGOL alternatives, compared on the same dates as SGOL.
Test SGOL in your own rules#
Tactfolio is a platform where you build rules-based investing strategies, backtest them on decades of real prices, share them, and run them automatically in your own Alpaca account. Open the builder, add SGOL, and see how a rule such as “hold it only above its 200-day average” would have done. Strategies run on daily prices and hold US stocks and ETFs only.
The details#
Prices come from Tactfolio’s stored daily prices for SGOL and SPY. Each close is adjusted for splits, and dividends are reinvested on the day the fund pays them out. CAGR is the steady yearly return that turns the starting value into the ending value. Volatility is the yearly standard deviation of daily returns. Beta and correlation compare daily returns with the S&P 500 over the same dates.
Fund facts come from abrdn (Aberdeen). We checked them on October 17, 2026. Read what a backtest simulates and how to read drawdown and CAGR for more on these measures.
Common questions#
What is the expense ratio of SGOL?#
SGOL charges 0.17% a year, according to abrdn (Aberdeen) as of October 17, 2026. That is about $17 a year for every $10,000 you hold.
When did SGOL start trading?#
SGOL started trading on September 9, 2009. It is run by abrdn (Aberdeen).
What does SGOL track?#
SGOL tracks the LBMA Gold Price PM. Each share of this fund stands for a small amount of real gold bars kept in vaults.
How much has SGOL returned per year?#
From September 2009 to October 2026, SGOL returned about 8.5% a year with dividends reinvested. Its worst drop was −45.5%. Past returns do not tell you what it will do next.
Is SGOL above its 200-day moving average?#
On October 16, 2026, SGOL closed 7.8% below its 200-day moving average. This page updates after each US market close.
Which strategies use SGOL?#
None of Tactfolio’s classic strategies hold SGOL yet. You can test it in your own rules in the builder.