Gold and Bitcoin Shining in 2025 as ETFs Drive Diversification

• Amid a volatile macro backdrop, gold and bitcoin have each returned almost 30% so far this year

• ETFs can provide efficient exposure to alternative assets like precious metals and cryptocurrencies

• Other metals and tokens have delivered even more impressive returns—and yes, ETFs exist for those, too

Bitcoin and Gold share the same year-to-date return, both up 28% through July 16. So far, 2025 has been the year of diversification, thanks to hefty gains in international stocks, a positive (though rocky) return in the bond market, and tailwinds in the alternative asset space.

Investors have the advantage of playing all these themes through ETFs.

“Volatile equity markets have shifted investor attention to alternatives like gold and bitcoin ETFs, in addition to more niche altcoins and precious metals ETFs, which add further diversification,” according to Roxanna Islam, Head of Sector & Industry Research, TMX VettaFi.

Interest in Alternatives

According to J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s latest Guide to ETFs, total assets under management in gold ETFs eclipsed $170 billion in April. Hot on that group’s heels is the digital asset space. Cryptocurrency ETF AUM had swelled to $123.9 billion by April 30. Keep in mind that bitcoin, ether, and the like have been on the rise through mid-July while gold has flat-lined, so the market-value gap is narrowing.

Pitting the two categories against each other is fascinating today because gold is still far bigger than bitcoin in global value. According to CompaniesMarketCap.com, if you wanted to procure all the gold possible, it would set you back $22.6 trillion. Bitcoin, by contrast, is barely one-tenth of gold’s market cap, currently near $2.4 trillion, as the token trades near $120,000.

Gold ETFs Glittering

Buying gold via the ETF route is easy, and there are two primary funds available. The dominant player is the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (NYSE:GLD), currently housing $102 billion. The smaller iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) has $48 billion in AUM. Head-to-head, GLD is somewhat more expensive in terms of annual cost, 0.4% annually compared to a 0.25% expense ratio for IAU. 

Both sport very low median bid-ask spreads and high volume, so tradability is strong. Prospective precious metal investors might consider the relative newcomer, the SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust (NYSE:GLDM). Its inception was seven years ago, and the product boasts an ultra-low annual cost of only 10 basis points. All of these gold ETFs track the yellow metal closely.

Bitcoin ETFs Busting at the Seams

As for bitcoin, the story of the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ:IBIT) is quite interesting. It’s AUM paces to surpass $100 billion in the months ahead, though much depends on price action in the crypto arena. At $86 billion as of mid-July, it wouldn’t take much of a rally for IBIT to hit that size milestone.

Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas noted that IBIT hit $80 billion in 374 days—five times faster than the prior record holder, Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO).

IBIT holders, many of whom are financial advisors, commonly tout its simplicity and low cost, as opposed to opening a digital wallet and procuring fractions of bitcoin. Among the top 25 largest ETFs, IBIT is also pulling away from the pack; the Fidelity Wise (LON:WISEa) Origin Bitcoin Fund (NYSE:FBTC) is about one-quarter the size of IBIT. At the same time, the elder Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (NYSE:GBTC) has $22 billion in AUM.

Secondary Themes Playing Out

Beyond gold and bitcoin, there has been bullish price action in other metals and cryptocurrencies.

For the former category, spot platinum is up more than 50% in 2025, palladium is higher by 40%, and even the more economically sensitive copper outshines gold year-to-date. You can get your kicks for all three using these ETFs: the abrdn Physical Platinum Shares ETF (NYSE:PPLT), the abrdn Physical Palladium Shares ETF (NYSE:PALL), and the United States Copper Index Fund (NYSE:CPER).

For the latter category, ether has been playing catch-up to bitcoin. At the post-Liberation Day lows, the second-most valuable digital currency was down by more than 50% for the year. A stunning rally over the past three-plus months has brought Ether back into positive territory in 2025, although it still lags bitcoin by a wide margin.

Funds tracking it are not as large as bitcoin ETFs, but there are four of them at $1.7 billion or more in AUM, each with reasonable liquidity.

Beyond the big two digital currencies, all eyes are on Solana, “the summer of SOL,” as VettaFi dubbed it. It ranks No. 6 on the cryptocurrency market cap list, but there isn’t yet a spot fund available for US investors. ProShares has launched leverage Solana and XRP products; however, there is a Canadian spot Solana ETF. 

Indeed, there are many moving pieces, with news breaking seemingly every few days. That should be expected given the crypto market’s bull run and tech innovations over the past few years.

Index Funds Paired with Niche ETFs

Metals and tokens have been hot trades, no question about it. It raises the question: what’s next? We’ll leave that to the pros at VettaFi to uncover, but with so much macro volatility, surely we can count on Wall Street to come up with a new sub-asset class to attract money. 

Active ETF AUM continues to rise, complementing the high growth in low-cost index funds, such as VOO. Call it a barbell method—allocating for the long haul in passive ETFs while YOLOing and HODLing using higher-risk active funds.

The Bottom Line

2025 has kept investors on edge, and perhaps that’s why gold and bitcoin have done so well. Central banks from around the world have been active gold purchasers, while the crypto market’s “buy the dip” mentality has helped drive bitcoin to new highs. Investors are embracing low-cost precious metal and digital asset funds, and the boom in active ETFs is likely to bring about exciting new products.