Precious metals exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are funds that enable you to invest in various precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Many precious metals ETFs hold the physical metal in bank vaults. As a result, they provide investors with direct exposure to the ups and downs of precious metals prices without the investor needing to buy, insure, and store the metals themselves.
Investing in precious metals enables you to diversify your portfolio, hedge against inflation, and protect your money from the devaluing of fiat currency.
Here's a closer look at some of the best precious metals exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Best ETFs
Best precious metals ETFs in 2025
There are more than 20 ETFs focused on precious metals. Some hold precious metals stored in bank vaults. Others make a different type of investment, including derivatives such as options or futures contracts that still offer some direct exposure to metals prices. In addition, investors can consider an ETF that owns shares of mining companies focused on precious metals.
Of these options, the best one is an ETF focused on directly holding physical precious metals. They tend to deliver performance that matches precious metals prices reasonably well after fees. The top five precious metals ETFs to consider are:
| Precious metals ETF | Ticker symbol | Assets under management | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPDR Gold Shares | (NYSEMKT:GLD) | $100.9 billion | An ETF that holds physical gold |
| iShares Silver Trust | (NYSEMKT:SLV) | $17.7 billion | An ETF that holds physical silver |
| abrdn Standard Physical Platinum Shares ETF | (NYSEMKT:PPLT) | $1.7 billion | An ETF that holds physical platinum |
| abrdn Standard Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF | (NYSEMKT:GLTR) | $1.5 billion | An ETF that holds physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium |
| abrdn Standard Physical Palladium Shares ETF | (NYSEMKT:PALL) | $521.8 million | An ETF that holds physical palladium |
Here's a closer look at these leading precious metals ETFs.
ETFs 1 - 2
1. SPDR Gold Shares
SPDR Gold Shares is the largest gold ETF. The fund's sole assets are gold bullion stored in bank vaults, along with some cash. This strategy allows investors to participate in the upside of the price of gold without having to own the physical metal. That reduces costs (insurance and storage) and risks (theft or misplacement).
The ETF is highly liquid. Because it trades on a major stock exchange, holders can quickly sell shares and convert them to cash when needed. Owners pay a relatively modest ETF expense ratio of 0.4% in exchange for these benefits. While the expense ratio has caused the SPDR Gold Shares price to slightly underperform the price of gold over the long term, it can be worth the cost compared to alternatives.
For example, many gold stocks have underperformed the price of gold over the years due to mine development cost overruns, mismanagement, and excess debt. For investors who want to roughly match the performance of the price of gold, SPDR Gold Shares is a great way to go.
2. iShares Silver Trust
iShares Silver Trust is the largest silver ETF. The fund holds physical silver bars stored in bank vaults. It enables investors to participate in the upside of silver prices with fewer hassles and risks of alternative investments, such as buying silver stocks or coins.
This ETF is also highly liquid, with a reasonable ETF expense ratio of 0.5%. Though the fee has caused the fund to slightly underperform the price of silver over the years, it can be worth it. The ETF enables investors to roughly match the price of silver. That provides a more certain return compared to alternative investments, like silver mining stocks, which can significantly underperform due to myriad issues.
ETFs 3 - 5
3. abrdn Standard Physical Platinum Shares ETF
The abrdn Standard Physical Platinum Shares ETF lets investors directly invest in platinum, a key precious metal used primarily to make catalytic converters for the automotive industry. The ETF holds physical bars stored in bank vaults and is one of the few ways to invest in platinum.
Although an interested investor could buy platinum bars or jewelry made from platinum, few publicly traded mining companies focus on the rare industrial metal. Those that do mainly mine platinum along with other metals, giving their investors less direct exposure to platinum prices. These challenges of investing in platinum make the fund's 0.6% expense ratio even more reasonable.
4. abrdn Standard Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF
The abrdn Standard Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF gives investors direct exposure to several precious metals. The ETF's precious metals basket includes physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. It holds physical bars of these precious metals in bank vaults. As of mid-2025, the fund's net assets were approximately 65.3% gold, 26.6% silver, 4.5% palladium, and 3.6% platinum.
The ETF provides broad exposure to a basket of precious metals for a reasonable cost, given its 0.6% expense ratio. It's one of the few funds providing investors with diversified exposure to the top precious metals in one vehicle.
5. abrdn Standard Physical Palladium Shares ETF
The abrdn Standard Physical Palladium Shares ETF allows investors to invest directly in palladium. Like platinum, the primary use of palladium is for catalytic converters in cars. Palladium's other uses include jewelry and some dental fillings and crowns. Like the other ETFs on this list, this one holds the precious metal in bank vaults.
The ETF is one of the few ways to invest directly in palladium. Few mining companies focus on producing palladium since it's not as prevalent in jewelry as other precious metals. That makes the ETF's 0.6% expense ratio a reasonable cost to gain exposure to this particular precious metal.
Related investing topics
Uses for precious metals
What are precious metals used for, and what influences their price?
Most precious metals have long held investment value due to their durable properties. Additionally, many precious metals also have value due to their non-investment uses. Here's a look at the uses of each precious metal and how that impacts their price:
- Gold: Gold has several uses, including jewelry, money, electronics, dentistry, and by the aerospace industry. While gold has non-investment demand, its investment value is the main factor that influences its price. Investors buy gold to hedge against inflation and as a safe haven during economic storms, which can influence its price.
- Silver: Silver has several uses, including jewelry, currency, electronics, solar panels, water purification, and mirrors. More than half of silver's demand comes from industrial applications. That demand and its investment value tend to influence its price.
- Platinum: Platinum has several uses, including catalytic converters, fuel cells, jewelry, and electronics. Several factors influence the price of platinum, including industrial demand and market sentiment from investors.
- Palladium: Palladium has several uses, including automotive catalytic converters, jewelry, and electronics. The metal's value to the automotive industry tends to be the primary factor driving its price.
Many options
Lots of ways to invest in precious metals
There are many precious metals ETFs, giving investors lots of options. Most of the top precious metals ETFs concentrate on owning physical bars of a particular precious metal, giving investors direct exposure to the metal.
To gain exposure to all four main precious metals, investors have a choice: They can focus on one metal if they believe it will outperform the rest, or they can consider buying a basket of precious metals ETFs or an ETF that holds a basket of precious metals. Either way, investing in a precious metals ETF is an easy way to help hedge against the rise of inflation.
FAQ
Precious metals ETFs: FAQ
Does Vanguard have a precious metals ETF?
Vanguard does not have a precious metals ETF. However, the asset manager does have a mutual fund that allows investors to gain some exposure to the sector. It manages the Vanguard Global Capital Cycles Fund (NASDAQMUTFUND: VGPMX), which invests at least 25% of its assets into precious metals and mining securities.
Is there an ETF for rare metals?
There are ETFs for rare earth metals. The most notable one is VanEck Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (NYSEMKT: REMX). The fund aims to track companies involved in producing, refining, and recycling rare earth metals and other strategic metals and minerals.
How do I invest in precious metals?
There are many ways to invest in precious metals. You can buy and own the physical metal (e.g., gold and silver coins, gold and silver bars, gold and silver jewelry), buy shares of a mining company focused on precious metals, or invest in an exchange-traded fund that holds precious metals mining stocks or the physical metal. Each investment option has benefits and drawbacks.
Are precious metal stocks a good buy now?
Precious metals stocks could be a good buy now. If you believe the value of a particular metal will rise due to strong demand, that would help drive up the value of precious metals stocks.
Is it better to invest in gold or silver?
There's a lot of debate about whether it's better to invest in silver or gold. Both can be a good inflation hedge and a safe haven during turbulent economic times. However, each precious metal also has its pros and cons. For example, gold tends to be less volatile than silver. Meanwhile, silver benefits from industrial demand for things like electronics, solar energy, and electric vehicles, while gold has limited industrial demand.
Given these differences, investors need to decide whether the potential greater upside of silver due to its industrial applications is worth the tradeoff of higher volatility in its price.
What precious metal is undervalued?
As of mid-2025, silver appeared to be undervalued compared to gold. One factor driving that view was the gold-silver ratio (i.e., the number of ounces of silver needed to buy one ounce of gold). That number was around 100 in mid-2025, much higher than its recent average in the mid-80s.
Do precious metals rise in a recession?
Yes, the value of precious metals tends to rise during a recession. That's largely because they are a safe haven investment as investors shift their money out of riskier assets like stocks into safer assets like gold and silver when the economy is weakening.
