Gold IRA vs gold ETF for retirement savers in 2026

Who holds the gold

A gold IRA wins if you want specific coins and bars, because your IRA owns that metal. A gold ETF gives you shares of a trust instead. In a gold IRA the metal belongs to the IRA, not to you, and a bank or approved trustee must keep it.

In McNulty, a 2021 Tax Court case, an IRA owner kept the IRA's American Eagles in her home safe. The court taxed her on $374,000 and $37,380 of distributions for 2015 and 2016, plus penalties. So treat a "home storage gold IRA" pitch as a taxable withdrawal, and ask any seller to name the depository in writing.

Which gold is allowed

A gold ETF wins on simplicity, because your IRA buys fund shares. A gold IRA can hold only the coins and bullion that tax law allows. Under 26 U.S.C. 408(m), metals and coins count as collectibles that an IRA can't buy.

Tax law makes three exceptions. The first is certain US gold, silver, and platinum coins, and the second is coins a state issues. The third is gold, silver, platinum, or palladium bullion of a set fineness that a bank or approved trustee holds.

If the IRA buys anything else, the IRS treats what you paid as a distribution, and you'll generally owe ordinary income tax on it. Before age 59½, you may also owe the 10% additional tax.

The CFTC calls "semi-numismatic" a made-up industry term, so a coin sold at a higher price with that label is a warning sign.

Taxes

Taxes are a tie inside an IRA, because both follow normal IRA rules. In a taxable account, a gold ETF loses, because the IRS taxes its long-term gains at up to 28%. The IRS taxes net gains on collectibles, such as coins, at a maximum 28% rate (IRS Topic 409).

GLD's annual report says that rate applies to shares individuals hold for more than one year. Inside a traditional IRA, you pay ordinary income tax on withdrawals, whatever the IRA holds. Qualified Roth withdrawals are tax-free.

So the 28% rate matters only for gold ETF shares held outside an IRA. Those are the federal rules, and your bracket and your state can change the result.

Buying and selling

A gold ETF wins on buying and selling. You can trade it any time the market is open, at $0 commission at Schwab. You sell gold IRA metal through the custodian at a dealer's buy-back price.

A dealer sells above the spot price and buys back below it, so you pay the spread twice: once on the way in and again on the way out.

Before you buy, ask the dealer in writing what you'd get if you sold back tomorrow. Fidelity publishes its sell commission: 2.00% under $50,000 and 1.00% from $50,000.

Who checks the seller

A gold ETF wins on who checks the seller. The fund registers with the SEC, and you buy it through a regulated broker. The CFTC says no federal agency regulates retail metal dealers.³

In 2024, the CFTC, FINRA, and state securities regulators warned that self-directed IRA custodians usually don't check the assets or the promoters in the account.

Check the salesperson's registration, ignore cold calls, and get every fee in writing. APMEX vs JM Bullion shows how two large retail dealers price coins.

Yearly fees

At balances of $10,000, $50,000, and $100,000, a gold ETF costs $10 to $400 a year. A gold IRA at STRATA Trust costs a flat $265 to $325.⁴

STRATA charges $150 a year for the account plus $115 for commingled or $175 for segregated storage, and $40 for each purchase or sale. Fidelity charges 0.125% of the metal's value a quarter for storage, with a $3.75 minimum.⁵

A flat fee becomes a smaller share of a larger balance. So STRATA's $265 costs less than GLD's 0.40% above $66,250. It costs less than GLDM's 0.10% only above $265,000.

Dealer markups

Dealer markups can cost about as much as 10 years of custodian fees, and the custodian's fee schedule doesn't include them. Each 1% of markup over spot costs you $500 on $50,000, as this example with an IRA-eligible coin shows.

Our APMEX review and JM Bullion review show what you pay each dealer to cancel, return, or sell back.

These are example prices. Tweed read them on each dealer's site from 6:39 to 6:40 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 25, 2026. Each markup uses the spot price the site showed that minute.

Prices change through the day, and a gold IRA dealer may charge more or less. A custodian pays by wire, so the wire price applies. Card prices ran about 4% higher.

The CFTC says some dealers charge spreads under 20%, and fraudulent ones have charged more than 300%. In a 2024 consent order, a federal court found Red Rock Secured sold about 950 customers coins worth about $30 million. Those customers paid more than $69 million, and most paid with retirement money.

A 2023 consent order against Safeguard Metals found an average 71% markup vs a disclosed maximum of 23%.

Costs over 10 years

Ten years on $50,000 costs $500 to $2,000 in a gold ETF and $2,765 to $3,990 in physical gold, before any dealer markup.

STRATA's totals include its $35 depository handling fee and leave out its $250 closing fee. At the Gold Eagle markups in the example above, the markup alone would add about $2,640 to $2,670 on $50,000 of gold.

Choose a gold IRA if

• You want your IRA to own specific coins or bars
• Your balance is large enough that a flat fee costs less than a fund's percentage fee
• You have the dealer's markup, buy-back price, and every fee in writing
• You're fine selling through a custodian and dealer

Choose a gold ETF if

• You want gold's price in the IRA or brokerage account you already have
• You'd rather pay $50 to $200 a year on $50,000 than a flat fee plus a markup
• You want to sell any day the market is open at $0 commission
• You don't need to hold the metal yourself