Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, the SPDR Gold Shares ETF
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at SPDR Gold Shares and see what CAPS investors are saying about the ETF right now.
SPDR Gold Shares facts
| Inception | November 2004 |
| Total Net Assets | $68.9 billion |
| Investment Approach | Seeks to replicate the performance, net of expenses, of the price of gold bullion. The trust holds gold, and is expected to issue baskets in exchange for deposits of gold, and to distribute gold in connection with redemption of baskets. |
| Expense Ratio | 0.4% |
| 1-Year / 3-Year / 5-Year Annualized Returns | (5.6%) / 20.6% / 19.6% |
| Alternatives |
iShares Gold Trust ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares Market Vectors Gold Miners |
Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 17% of the 688 All-Star members who have rated SPDR Gold Shares believe the ETF will underperform the S&P 500 going forward.
Just two months ago, one of those Fools, TMFDivine, tapped SPDR Gold Shares as a particularly speculative selection:
No reliable valuation method for seeing what gold is ever actually WORTH. If you don't know what you're paying for, the item in question is bought mostly for the purpose of being held, not used, and the price has skyrocketed over the past few years, you should probably sell. Unfortunately I think a lot of people will be hurting when the price of gold comes back down to earth.
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