iShares Silver Trust
SLV CommodityUpdated: Jul 5, 2026, 21:17 UTC
Key Metrics
About This ETF
The iShares Silver Trust (SLV) is a Commodity ETF with an expense ratio (TER) of 0.5% and $36.8B in assets under management. Year-to-date, SLV has returned -16.32%.
The Trust seeks to reflect such performance before payment of the Trust's expenses and liabilities. It is not actively managed. The Trust does not engage in any activities designed to obtain a profit from, or to ameliorate losses caused by, changes in the price of silver.
FAQ — SLV
What is the TER of SLV (iShares Silver Trust)?
SLV has a Total Expense Ratio (TER) of 0.50 % per year. That sits below the commodity category median (0.65 % across 9 peer ETFs). The TER is deducted directly from the fund and lowers your effective return.
What return has SLV delivered?
Performance for SLV: YTD: -16.32 % · 3-year p.a.: +37.84 % · 5-year p.a.: +17.52 %. Over 5 years, SLV outperforms the commodity category median of +15.34 % by +2.18 pp. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.
Where can I buy or set up a savings plan for SLV?
SLV is available at most major brokers. For a free monthly savings plan from €1, look at Trade Republic, Scalable Capital or Flatex. The broker comparison on this site shows fees, free-savings-plan ETFs and execution exchanges side by side.
What is the iShares Silver Trust (SLV)?
The iShares Silver Trust tracks the price of physical silver and, with roughly $35.6B in assets, ranks among the largest commodity vehicles worldwide. The trust holds actual silver in vaults and is not actively managed. For investors, SLV offers exchange-traded access to the silver market — serving as a diversifier and potential inflation hedge. Like all precious-metal vehicles, it pays no dividend and generates no income; returns depend solely on the metal's price movement.
Performance in context
Silver is a cyclical, volatile commodity, and that profile shows clearly in SLV's returns. Over three years the trust gained a strong 46.7 %, while the five-year figure totals 21.16 %. Year-to-date the advance is a more modest 3.97 %. The wide gap between the 52-week low of $29.78 and the high of $109.83 underscores just how much the price can swing.
Key drivers are real interest rates, inflation expectations, the US dollar and industrial demand — silver is heavily consumed in electronics and photovoltaics. This dual role as both a precious and an industrial metal amplifies the moves. The annual expense ratio stands at 0.5 %.
Risk profile
SLV is a single-commodity vehicle, making it concentrated and volatile. Silver produces no earnings, no dividends and no intrinsic cash flow — the return depends entirely on price.
- Price risk: High volatility, ranging from $29.78 to $109.83 over the past 52 weeks.
- Currency risk: The trust is denominated in US dollars. For euro-area investors, a weaker dollar can erode gains or deepen losses.
- Industrial demand: An economic slowdown can dampen demand from electronics and solar manufacturing.
- Structural risk: Custody, insurance and the 0.5 % expense ratio reduce returns over time.
Who is SLV suitable for?
SLV fits investors who want to add a small precious-metals allocation on top of a diversified base of equities and bonds — typically as a diversifier and potential inflation hedge. A long time horizon and the willingness to tolerate sharp swings, such as the range between $29.78 and $109.83, are essential.
It is less suitable for income-focused investors: the dividend yield is 0.0 %, so there are no ongoing distributions. Likewise, anyone seeking a low-volatility core holding or working with a short horizon should avoid a heavy weight in a single commodity. SLV makes the most sense as a small satellite position rather than a portfolio cornerstone.
How SLV compares with other commodity ETFs
Within the precious-metals space, SLV sits alongside several well-known vehicles:
- SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and iShares Gold Trust (IAU): both track physical gold. Gold is traditionally less volatile than silver and more of a crisis hedge, whereas silver also benefits from industrial demand.
- Invesco Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy (PDBC): a broad, futures-based commodity basket spanning energy, metals and agriculture — rather than a single metal.
SLV, by contrast, holds physically backed silver at a 0.5 % expense ratio. The choice comes down to whether you want concentrated silver exposure or broad commodity diversification.
Where can I buy SLV?
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