GLD is backed by physical gold and pays no dividend, but is used as a hedge against inflation and uncertainty. A 22.9% one-year return reflects recent gold-price strength, but its -23.8% max drawdown — the largest in this entire batch — may be surprising given gold's "safe asset" reputation; price volatility itself can be substantial.

Its 0.40% expense ratio is also much higher than other ETFs in this batch. Rather than treating it as a true safe asset, it's more commonly held as a distinct, low-correlation satellite position at around 5-10% of a portfolio.