What Is GDX? VanEck Gold Miners ETF
Last updated July 2026
Short answer
GDX is the largest gold mining equity ETF. It holds roughly 60 to 70 gold and precious-metals mining companies, weighted mostly by market cap, with top positions in Newmont, Agnico Eagle, and Barrick. The expense ratio is ~0.51%. It suits investors who want leverage to the gold price through the stocks that dig it up, rather than owning bullion directly. The obvious peer is GDXJ, VanEck's junior gold miners fund, which tilts to smaller, more volatile explorers and mid-tier producers.
GDX is issued by VanEck and tracks NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index (GDMNTR). It charges a 0.51% expense ratio, holds approximately ~$27 billion in assets under management, yields about ~0.8%, and launched in May 2006.
What is GDX?
GDX is the VanEck Gold Miners ETF, the largest and most heavily traded fund dedicated to gold mining stocks. Launched in May 2006, it tracks the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index, a market-cap-weighted basket of roughly 60 to 70 companies that earn most of their revenue from mining gold and, to a lesser degree, silver. It gives investors a single ticker for exposure to the miners rather than to bullion.
The fund charges a net expense ratio of about 0.51% and manages roughly 27 billion dollars as of mid-2026. Because it owns operating companies instead of physical metal, GDX behaves like an equity investment: its value depends on the gold price, but also on mining costs, production growth, debt levels, and where the mines sit in the world.
GDX holdings
Approximate weights as of mid-2026; refresh quarterly from VanEck's fund page. Each ticker links to its individual stock guide in Walnut.
| Rank | Ticker | Company | % of GDX | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NEM | Newmont Corporation | ~11% | |
| 2 | AEM | Agnico Eagle Mines | ~11% | |
| 3 | ABX | Barrick Mining | ~8% | |
| 4 | AU | AngloGold Ashanti | ~5% | |
| 5 | WPM | Wheaton Precious Metals | ~5% | |
| 6 | FNV | Franco-Nevada | ~5% | |
| 7 | K | Kinross Gold | ~5% | |
| 8 | GFI | Gold Fields | ~4% | |
| 9 | PAAS | Pan American Silver | ~3% | |
| 10 | CDE | Coeur Mining | ~3% |
GDX is concentrated in the sector's major producers. Its largest positions include Newmont and Agnico Eagle at roughly 11% each, followed by Barrick, AngloGold Ashanti, Wheaton Precious Metals, Franco-Nevada, and Kinross Gold. The top ten names account for more than half of the fund, so its returns are driven heavily by a handful of large-cap miners.
The basket also blends in royalty and streaming companies such as Franco-Nevada and Wheaton Precious Metals, which fund mines in exchange for a cut of future output and tend to be less operationally risky than pure miners. A few silver-heavy names like Pan American Silver and Coeur Mining round out the top holdings, giving GDX some exposure beyond gold alone.
GDX vs GDXJ and physical gold
The most direct comparison is GDXJ, VanEck's junior gold miners ETF. GDX holds the larger, cash-generating producers, while GDXJ tilts toward smaller and mid-tier companies that are more speculative and more volatile. Investors who want the steadier end of the mining spectrum lean toward GDX; those seeking higher potential upside and risk look at GDXJ.
The other comparison is physical-gold funds like GLD or GLDM, which hold bullion and track the spot price closely at a lower fee (GLDM is around 0.10%). GDX adds equity risk on top of the gold price: miners can outperform bullion when gold rises and their margins expand, but they can also fall much harder when gold weakens. Many investors treat miners and bullion as different tools for different jobs.
Performance and outlook
Gold miners are a high-beta way to play the gold price. Because mining companies carry fixed costs, a rise in gold can expand their profit margins faster than the metal itself moves, so GDX has historically overshot gold in bull markets and undershot it in downturns. That operating leverage cuts both ways and makes the fund considerably more volatile than a bullion ETF.
The outlook for GDX is tied to the direction of gold, real interest rates, mining input costs, and how well the underlying companies control spending. This is descriptive context, not a forecast. Past cycles show miners can move dramatically over short periods, so historical performance is not a reliable guide to future results.
Is GDX a good fit
Whether GDX fits your portfolio depends on your goals, time horizon, and tolerance for volatility, and this is not investment advice. The fund offers cheap, liquid, diversified access to gold miners in one trade, which many investors use as a small tactical or satellite position when they want leverage to gold or a hedge against currency and inflation concerns.
Because it is concentrated in a single sector and its top holdings, GDX is not a substitute for a broad, diversified core holding. Its swings can be sharp, so investors typically size it modestly and understand that mining equities can decline meaningfully when gold weakens or when miner margins compress. Consider how it interacts with the rest of your portfolio before buying.
How to buy GDX
GDX trades on major US brokerages including Robinhood, Fidelity, Schwab, and Public, and you can buy whole or fractional shares wherever fractional trading is supported. As one of the most liquid ETFs in the sector, it usually has tight spreads and heavy volume, which keeps trading costs low.
If you want to track a GDX position as part of a thematic strategy, you can connect your brokerage to Walnut. Walnut mirrors your holdings on a read-only basis so your login and any trades stay with your broker, while Walnut helps you see how a gold-miner allocation fits alongside the rest of your baskets.
Themes GDX is commonly used to express
ETFs are passive bundles; thematic baskets in Walnut let you concentrate within them. If you hold GDX as a core position, these are the themes you might layer on as satellites.
The bottom line on GDX
GDX gives one-ticker exposure to the big and mid-cap gold miners at ~0.51%, cheaper than picking single miners but pricier than a physical-gold fund like GLDM. Miners tend to amplify moves in the gold price, up and down, so GDX behaves as a higher-beta satellite, not a stable core holding.
More on GDX
Whether GDX is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is GDX a buy?
GDX yields ~0.8% as of mid-2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see GDX dividend: yield and schedule.
Build a portfolio around GDX with Walnut
Use GDX as your core holding, then let Walnut's AI propose thematic satellites: AI infrastructure, dividend growth, clean energy, whatever you believe in. Connect your broker, build the basket in conversation, track it as one unit.
FAQ
What is GDX?
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GDX is the VanEck Gold Miners ETF, the largest exchange-traded fund focused on gold mining stocks. It holds roughly 60 to 70 large and mid-cap gold and precious-metals miners, weighted mostly by market cap, and tracks the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index. It gives investors one-ticker exposure to the companies that mine gold rather than to bullion itself.
Who issues GDX and what does it track?
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GDX is issued by VanEck, a New York based asset manager known for its gold and thematic ETFs. The fund tracks the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index, a rules-based, market-cap-weighted index of companies that generate most of their revenue from gold and silver mining. VanEck launched GDX in May 2006, making it one of the longest-running mining ETFs.
What is the difference between GDX and GDXJ?
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Both are VanEck gold-mining ETFs. GDX holds the larger, established producers like Newmont and Agnico Eagle. GDXJ, the junior miners fund, tilts toward smaller, earlier-stage and mid-tier companies. GDXJ is typically more volatile and more sensitive to the gold price, while GDX is steadier because its holdings are bigger, cash-generating producers.
What is inside GDX?
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GDX holds roughly 60 to 70 gold and precious-metals mining companies. The top positions include Newmont, Agnico Eagle, Barrick, AngloGold Ashanti, Wheaton Precious Metals, Franco-Nevada, and Kinross Gold. The top ten names make up more than half the fund, so it is concentrated in the major producers and a few royalty and streaming companies like Franco-Nevada and Wheaton.
What is the expense ratio of GDX?
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GDX charges a net expense ratio of about 0.51% per year, or roughly 5.10 dollars annually on a 1,000 dollar position. That is more than a plain physical-gold ETF like GLDM (~0.10%), but far less than researching and trading a dozen individual mining stocks yourself. The fee reflects the cost of running an actively rebalanced global equity basket.
Does GDX pay a dividend?
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Yes, GDX pays a distribution, typically once a year, funded by the dividends its underlying miners pay. The yield is modest, recently around 0.8%, because gold miners historically reinvest cash into projects rather than paying large dividends. Investors generally hold GDX for exposure to the gold price through miners, not for income.
How do I buy GDX?
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GDX trades like any stock on major US brokerages including Robinhood, Fidelity, Schwab, and Public. You can buy whole or fractional shares where supported. To track a GDX position inside a thematic basket, you can connect your broker to Walnut, which mirrors your holdings read-only so your login and trades stay with your broker.
How large is GDX?
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GDX manages roughly 27 billion dollars in assets as of mid-2026, making it by far the largest gold mining ETF and one of the most liquid ways to trade the sector. Its size means tight bid-ask spreads and heavy daily volume, which lowers trading costs for both small and large investors.
Is GDX a good investment?
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That depends on your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance, and this is not investment advice. GDX offers cheap, diversified exposure to gold miners, but mining stocks are volatile and tend to amplify swings in the gold price. Some investors use it as a small tactical or satellite position rather than a core holding. Consider how it fits your overall plan before buying.
When was GDX created?
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VanEck launched GDX in May 2006. It was the first US-listed ETF dedicated to gold mining equities and has since become the sector benchmark, with the junior-focused GDXJ following in 2009. Its long track record spans multiple gold bull and bear cycles, which is useful context when studying how miners behave versus the metal.
Does GDX move with the price of gold?
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Broadly yes, but not one for one. Gold miners carry operating leverage: when gold rises, their profit margins can expand faster than the metal, so GDX often rises more than gold in bull markets and falls more in downturns. Company-specific factors like mining costs, debt, and political risk in mining regions also affect returns.
Should I buy GDX or physical gold like GLD?
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They are different exposures. GLD and GLDM hold physical bullion and closely track the spot gold price with low fees. GDX holds mining companies, which add equity risk and higher volatility but also the potential for larger gains if gold rises and miners execute well. Many investors weigh miners as a higher-risk, higher-reward complement to bullion, not a substitute.
Does GDX hold silver or royalty companies too?
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Yes. Although it is called a gold miners fund, GDX includes some precious-metals names with silver exposure like Pan American Silver and Coeur Mining, plus royalty and streaming companies such as Franco-Nevada and Wheaton Precious Metals. These streamers finance mines in exchange for a share of output and tend to be less operationally risky than pure miners.
What are the main risks of GDX?
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GDX carries the risks of mining equities: high volatility, sensitivity to the gold price, rising operating and energy costs, and political risk where mines operate. It is concentrated in its top ten holdings and in a single sector, so it is far less diversified than a broad market fund. It can fall sharply when gold weakens or when miner margins compress.
How do I compare GDX to similar ETFs?
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Put a few fields side by side: the expense ratio (fees compound over decades), the index or strategy it tracks, the top holdings and how much they overlap with what you already own, the dividend yield, and the AUM, liquidity, and bid-ask spread that affect trading costs. For index funds, tracking error (how closely it follows its index) and tax efficiency matter too. GDX's figures are above; the full method is in Walnut's guide on how to compare ETFs.
Related ETFs
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Holdings weights and fund statistics on this page are approximations stamped to mid-2026; verify current figures against VanEck's fund page or your broker before investing.