Can't Choose Between Silver and Gold? These ETFs Hold Both

Key Points

• The precious metals rally that began in 2024 has carried into 2026, with gold gaining 70% over the past year and silver gaining 194%.
• Those rallies have continued into the new year, with some ETFs providing exposure to both precious metals. 
• GLTR and GBUG hold both gold and silver and have posted one-year gains of 108% and 138%, respectively.

The precious metals rally that began in 2024 has carried into 2026. Over the past year, gold has gained more than 70% while silver has gained more than 194%.

For gold, there were global catalysts at play, including ongoing geopolitical conflict, renewed buying from central banks and institutional investors, and concerns about monetary policy and ballooning fiscal debts. 

Domestically, President Donald Trump’s policies also contributed to gold’s gains, as the equity markets dealt with heightened volatility and a weakened U.S. dollar that lost 10% of its value during his first year back in office.   

Silver, on the other hand, is seeing its price skyrocket as the metal is facing a multi-year deficit, with recent demand far outpacing supply. Because of its numerous industrial applications, which range from solar panels’ photovoltaic cells and catalytic converters to water purification systems and aerospace thermal control systems. 

For investors, choosing between the two while navigating the labyrinth that is the materials sector’s mining industry can be a convoluted proposition. Fortunately, there are exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that provide exposure to both silver and gold, enabling shareholders to position themselves for what should be another strong year out of the precious metals. 

Precious Metals Look to Build on 2025’s Record Gains

While stocks have historically outperformed all other asset classes over the past 50 years, commodities—specifically precious metals—have surged in recent years, putting the S&P 500’s returns to shame. 

In December 2025, the World Gold Council reported that gold set 53 record prices in 2025 as “global investors poured unprecedented capital into physically backed gold ETFs. Annual inflows surged to $89 billion, the largest on record as the gold price delivered its strongest performance since 1979.” 

The World Gold Council added that global gold ETFs’ assets under management doubled to an all-time high of $559 billion last year. Meanwhile, the Silver Institute reported that just in the first half of last year, inflows into silver ETFs surpassed 2024’s full-year totals. 

Looking forward, Daniel Oliver, managing member of Myrmikan Capital, suggests it isn’t too late for those who missed the rally over the past two years to get on board. In a research note published on Thursday, Jan. 15, Oliver said that when gold makes prolific runs—like the one seen in 2025—it typically comes at the beginning of a bull cycle. 

He added that “the Fed has lost its leverage. Credit will continue to decay. The deficit will not be reduced in nominal terms. The dollar cannot recover its former glory. Gold will trade higher, though with increasing volatility. Gold miners will not see significant margin compression. We think 2025 was the start of a multi-year bull market.”

Meanwhile, there is no shortage of analysts that have stated that silver is on its way to $100 per ounce in 2026, or just over 9% higher than where the precious metal is trading today. 

For investors who are having trouble deciding whether to add gold or silver to their portfolios for the year ahead, there’s good news: They don’t have to choose. The following two ETFs provide exposure to both. 

abrdn’s Basket of Physical Precious Metals

Launched on Oct. 22, 2010, the abrdn Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF NYSEARCA: GLTR tracks the spot prices of a basket of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.

Over the past year, the GLTR has gained nearly 108%. By weight, the ETF has allocations of: 

• Gold bullion: 57.20% or 342,403 shares
• Silver bullion: 35.05% or 12,554,789 shares
• Palladium bullion: 4.16% or 68,4813 shares
• Platinum bullion: 3.59% or 45,654 shares

At 0.60%, its net expense ratio is somewhat elevated for a passively managed fund, but is still less than the broad precious metals ETF average of 0.68% and the commodities ETF average of 0.71%. 

Notably, Wall Street’s bears are going nowhere near the GLTR. Current short interest stands at just 0.64% of the float, or 81,150 shares out of more than 12.7 million shares outstanding. Meanwhile, institutional owners have been pouring money into the fund, with inflows of $305.6 million over the past 12 months more than triple the outflows of $100.28 million.

Sprott’s Portfolio of Precious Metal Mining Stocks 

As its name suggests, the Sprott Active Gold & Silver Miners ETF NASDAQ: GBUG has a portfolio composed of some of the best-performing gold and silver mining companies in the world, with 64.5% of its holdings being based in Canada, 8.5% in Australia, and 8.4% in the United States.

Over the past year, the fund gained nearly 137%. Much of that is due to the portfolio’s weighting distribution, with no single holding exceeding 4.58% at current allocations.

The ETF receives an aggregate Moderate Buy rating based on 54 analyst ratings of select companies in its portfolio over the past year, including AngloGold Ashanti NYSE: AU and Newmont NYSE: NEM, the world’s largest gold mining company.

Over the past year, those two stocks alone posted eye-catching gains of nearly 263% and more than 176%, respectively.