GLD max drawdown: 61.8%
SPDR Gold Shares. From its 1980-08-31 peak, GLD fell 61.8% to the 1999-06-30 trough and needed 26.7 years to make a new high (2007-04-30). Computed from 679 months of history starting 1970-01-31, including extended pre-ETF data where available.
Gold. Extended history covers the 1980-1999 bear market that took gold down about 70 percent in real terms.
GLD drawdown statistics
1980-08-31 peak to 1999-06-30 trough.
New high reached 2007-04-30.
Share of all months spent below a prior high.
Rolling year ending 1981-06-30.
For context, SPY (the S&P 500 baseline) had a maximum drawdown of 50.8% over the same kind of monthly-close analysis.
The biggest GLD drawdowns on record
| Depth | Peak | Trough | Recovered | Peak to trough | Total underwater |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -61.8% | 1980-08-31 | 1999-06-30 | 2007-04-30 | 226 mo | 26.7 years |
| -42.9% | 2011-08-31 | 2015-12-31 | 2020-07-31 | 52 mo | 8.9 years |
| -40.2% | 1974-11-30 | 1976-07-31 | 1978-06-30 | 20 mo | 3.6 years |
| -25.8% | 2008-02-29 | 2008-10-31 | 2009-05-31 | 8 mo | 15 months |
| -23.9% | 2026-02-28 | 2026-06-30 | not yet | 4 mo | 5 months |
Methodology: monthly closing prices, peak-to-trough on total return where available. History extends before the ETF's launch via documented proxy chains (index funds, indices, and academic series), the same data that powers BestFolio's strategy backtests. Educational information, not investment advice.
Drawdowns are the reason tactical strategies exist
Buy-and-hold GLD means living through every number on this page. BestFolio tracks published TAA strategies whose whole job is cutting these drawdowns, with out-of-sample track records.