Gold and Commodity ETFs in Canada (2026): CGL, ZGLD, XGD, PHYS and Others Compared

Gold funds listed in Canada come in three kinds. Some hold gold bars in a vault and follow the gold price less fees, some hold shares of gold-mining companies, and some track a commodity index with futures contracts. The first choice is between the metal and the miners; inside the bullion funds, the next is whether the units are hedged to the Canadian dollar. This page explains both and compares the gold, silver, copper and broad commodity funds using the figures each issuer publishes. It doesn’t pick one or forecast prices.

Jump to a category:

• Gold bullion
• Gold miners
• Silver
• Copper
• Broad commodities

Bullion, miners or futures: how does each kind of fund follow the metal?

The Ontario Securities Commission’s investor site says commodity ETFs work in one of two ways: they hold and store the commodity itself, or they track a commodity index through holdings and derivatives. Gold funds add a third route, owning the companies that dig the metal up.

Bullion funds. iShares says CGL aims to match the price of gold, less fees and expenses, by holding gold bars for the long term without speculating on short-term price moves. BMO keeps ZGLD’s gold in a local BMO vault that is audited from time to time. Purpose says KILO owns one-kilogram bars with their own identifiers, stored at the Royal Canadian Mint, and CI says VALT holds nearly all its assets in gold. For coins, bars and other ways to own the metal directly, see ways to own gold in Canada.

Closed-end trusts. PHYS is not an ETF: Sprott describes it as a closed-end fund set up under Ontario law that holds nearly all its assets in gold. Sprott warns that buyers on the exchange may pay more than the trust’s net asset value and sellers may get less. Unitholders of Sprott’s bullion trusts can ask each month to redeem for metal, if they meet the minimum redemption amount. Its silver and copper trusts, PSLV and COP.UN, are closed-end trusts too.

Miners funds. XGD gives exposure to shares of gold producers around the world, and iShares says it invests mainly in equity securities of mining companies. Because these are stocks, they carry market risk, which the OSC defines as losses from events that affect the whole market. BMO says ZGD gives its holdings equal weights to lessen the risk that comes from a single holding.

Futures funds. CI says CCOM gains exposure to its index through financial instruments such as futures contracts and other derivatives. Its index tracks futures across agriculture, energy and metals.

Hedged or not: why do some gold ETFs have two versions?

iShares sells its bullion fund in two classes: CGL, hedged to the Canadian dollar, and CGL.C, not hedged. In its reports iShares measures CGL against the gold price in US dollars and CGL.C against the gold price in Canadian dollars. The unhedged class therefore carries currency risk, which the OSC describes as the risk of losing money when the exchange rate moves. The hedged class pays for the forward contracts behind its hedge, and Purpose notes that hedging comes with costs. CGL’s MER is 0.56% and CGL.C’s is 0.55%. The table’s hedged column shows which funds say they hedge; where an issuer’s documents don’t say, it reads “Not stated”. US-listed vs Canadian-listed ETFs explains how hedging works.

GLD, the SPDR Gold Shares fund, is listed in the US. The bullion group below lists Canadian-listed funds; US-listed vs Canadian-listed ETFs compares the two kinds of listing.

The main gold and commodity ETFs compared

The table lists gold, silver, copper and broad commodity funds listed in Canada that publish an MER, grouped by what they hold, with hedged and unhedged units of one fund in their own rows. Each figure comes from the issuer’s fact sheet, fund page or management report. The Royal Canadian Mint’s gold receipts (MNT) are left out because the Mint charges a management, storage and custodial fee rather than publishing a fund MER, and so are US-listed funds such as GLD.

Issuer-published figures. Holdings counts, where an issuer gives one, are as of August 31, 2026 and September 30, 2026 and June 30, 2026. MER as of BMO: September 30, 2026; CI: June 30, 2026; Global X: June 30, 2026; Purpose: June 30, 2026; Sprott: June 30, 2026; iShares: June 30, 2026 (each issuer's latest reported MER). Each ticker links to the issuer's page, which has the current price, holdings, distributions and performance.

“What it holds” says whether a fund owns metal, mining shares or futures. There are no return or yield columns: how an ETF did in the past can’t tell you how it will do next, and each ticker links to the issuer’s page. For the ETFs in the table, each one’s ETF Facts says who the fund is meant for.

How do the funds differ?

Fees. Among the bullion funds, MERs run from 0.18% for VALT to 0.56% for CGL, with ZGLD at 0.22% and PHYS at 0.39%. The two miners funds charge 0.60% (ZGD) and 0.61% (XGD), more than any bullion fund in the table. The MER is paid whether the fund gains or loses.

What they hold. A bullion fund holds the metal; a miners fund holds a basket of companies: 65 in XGD and 52 in ZGD. ZGD weights them equally.

Distributions. Purpose shows no yield for KILO. XGD pays distributions twice a year and ZGD once a year. The table shows the rest.

Redemption for metal. Purpose lets KILO holders with a kilogram or more redeem in gold shipped to them, and Sprott’s trusts allow monthly redemption for metal above a minimum.

XGD vs CGL: what changes between miners and bullion?

• What it holds: XGD holds 65 gold-producing companies; CGL holds gold bars.
• Hedging: CGL is the hedged class of iShares’ bullion fund; CGL.C is the unhedged one.
• MER: 0.61% for XGD, 0.56% for CGL.
• Distributions: XGD pays twice a year, CGL once a year.

The main difference is the one in the first section: CGL follows the gold price less fees, while XGD’s companies also carry stock-market and company risk.

What about silver, copper and broad commodity ETFs?

Silver

The silver group works like the gold funds that hold bars. iShares says SVR aims to match the price of silver less fees, with SVR as the hedged units and SVR.C as the non-hedged ones. Sprott’s PSLV is a closed-end trust holding silver bars, and Purpose keeps SBT’s silver in a Canadian bank’s vault, allocated and segregated. MERs run from 0.40% for SBT to 0.66% for SVR and SVR.C.

Copper

Of the three copper funds, COP.UN holds the metal: Sprott says the trust holds nearly all its assets in copper, and a redemption for metal needs at least 100 metric tonnes. The other two hold shares. Global X says COPP tracks companies active in copper ore mining and hedges its US dollar exposure to Canadian dollars. iShares’ XBM holds companies that produce or extract base metals in general, not copper alone. COP.UN’s MER is 1.40%, against 0.78% for COPP and 0.60% for XBM. Copper miners carry the same stock-market risk as gold miners. For mining companies’ own shares, see gold stocks in Canada.

Broad commodities

CCOM is the table’s one broad commodity fund. CI says it tracks the Auspice Broad Commodity Excess Return Index through futures contracts and other derivatives, across agriculture, energy and metals, with its currency hedged to Canadian dollars. It pays out quarterly at an MER of 0.66%. The OSC notes that commodity ETFs tend to be higher risk, being concentrated in one sector with prices that move often. Funds holding oil and gas producers are on our energy ETFs page.

What are gold mutual funds, and do any gold ETFs pay a dividend?

Gold mutual funds. Some bullion funds come in more than one form: Purpose sells KILO’s fund as hedged, non-hedged and US dollar ETF units and also in mutual fund format. A mutual fund unit is bought and sold at its net asset value, which is usually worked out once each business day, while an ETF has a market price during the day that usually isn’t the same as its NAV. Mutual funds in Canada and ETFs vs mutual funds explain the two forms.

Gold ETFs that pay a dividend. A fund pays out as distributions the dividends, interest, gains and other income it earns on its holdings. XGD, which holds the shares of gold producers, pays distributions twice a year, while Purpose shows no yield for its bullion fund KILO. Nova Scotia’s securities regulator explains that covered-call ETFs pass the option premiums they collect on to unitholders as cash distributions; they are compared on our covered-call ETFs page.

What don’t gold and commodity ETFs do?

• They are concentrated. The OSC calls commodity ETFs higher risk because they sit in one sector and their prices move often.
• Miners add stock-market risk. Mining shares can fall with the whole market.
• Unhedged units add currency risk. The exchange rate can move against you.
• They can trade away from their value. ETF units can trade at a premium or discount to net asset value, and Sprott warns this for its trusts.
• Fees and taxes still apply. The MER is paid whether the fund gains or loses. In a non-registered account, a fund set up as a mutual fund trust sends a T3 slip, and selling units usually gives a capital gain; see how ETFs are taxed.
• They aren’t covered by deposit insurance and can lose money.

Where to go next

• Ways to own gold in Canada: coins, bars and more
• Gold stocks in Canada
• US-listed vs Canadian-listed ETFs
• Covered-call ETFs
• Where to buy ETFs: compare brokers
• All ETF guides