Gold ETF vs Silver ETF, side by side
Both are exchange-traded commodities that hold real metal bars in a vault and track the metal's price, so neither pays any income. The difference is the metal itself: gold is the classic store-of-value investors often turn to in nervous times, while silver is a smaller, more volatile market that is also used heavily in industry, so it moves more with the economy.
iShares Physical Gold ETC
Physical gold bars held in a vault - one holding, no dividends. Often used as a diversifier because it can behave differently from shares and bonds.
iShares Physical Silver ETC
Backed by physical silver bars held in a vault, so its price follows the price of silver.
The numbers, side by side
| Measure |  iShares Physical Gold ETC |  iShares Physical Silver ETC |
|---|---|---|
| What it tracks | LBMA Gold Price | LBMA Silver Price |
| OCF: Ongoing Charge Figure: the fund's yearly running cost, taken automatically. 0.22% is about £2.20 a year for every £1,000 you hold. | 0.12% | 0.2% |
| Acc / Dist: Accumulating (Acc) reinvests dividends inside the fund automatically; Distributing (Dist) pays them to you as cash. Same index either way. | Gold | Gold |
| Holdings: Roughly how many different investments the fund spreads your money across. More holdings usually means more diversification. | Physically-backed gold | Physical silver bullion held in a vault |
| Domicile | Jersey | Ireland |
| Replication | Physically-backed (allocated gold bars) | Physically-backed |
| Yield: The income the fund has paid out over the past year as a percentage of its price. Accumulating funds reinvest this for you instead of paying cash. | — | — |
| Price | £58.19 | £40.69 |
| 1Y: How much the share price has moved over the past year. | +20% | +13% |
How they differ
The fees differ: iShares Physical Silver ETC charges 0.2% a year and iShares Physical Gold ETC charges 0.12%. On £10,000 growing at an illustrative 6.5% a year that gap compounds to roughly £514 over 20 years - purely from cost, and an illustration rather than a forecast.
Descriptive only - how the two compare on today's data, never a verdict on either.
iShares Physical Gold ETC, in one line
Physical gold bars in a vault, minus the heist movie: one holding, and it pays you no income.
Read the full iShares Physical Gold ETC explainer →iShares Physical Silver ETC, in one line
This exchange traded commodity tracks the price of physical silver by holding actual silver bars safely locked away in a vault.
Read the full iShares Physical Silver ETC explainer →Common questions
Do gold and silver ETFs pay dividends?
No. Both funds simply hold physical metal in a vault, and metal produces no income, so there are no dividends or interest to pay out. Any return comes only from the change in the metal's price. A small annual fee is taken from the fund, so the value tracks the metal minus that cost.
Why is silver often more volatile than gold?
Silver is a much smaller market than gold and has a big industrial side, used in electronics, solar panels and more. That means demand rises and falls with the economy as well as with investor mood, so its price tends to swing further in both directions than gold's, which is held mainly as a store of value.