IAU max drawdown: 61.8%
iShares Gold Trust. From its 1980-08-31 peak, IAU 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.
The cheaper gold trust, same metal, same drawdowns.
IAU 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 IAU 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 |
| -42.6% | 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 |
| -25.7% | 2008-02-29 | 2008-10-31 | 2009-09-30 | 8 mo | 19 months |
| -23.8% | 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 IAU 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.