We rank 40 large-company funds on their short-term holding costs.
What does it cost to pick up some stock market exposure for a short period? As little as $2 per $10,000 invested.
Our survey of trading costs looks at the expenses of maintaining a position in an exchange-traded fund for three months. Here, we score 40 funds that own either the entire U.S. stock market or the largest companies in it.
Vanguard has two big-cap funds that stand out for cost efficiency. Its giant Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) can be held for $1.79 per $10,000. Close behind is the firm’s S&P 500 ETF (VOO) at $2.
The cost is defined as the sum of the bid/ask spread, three months of overhead via the expense ratio, and three months of expense offsets from securities lending income.
Liquidity grades are based on a combination of bid/ask spreads and trading volume.
You’ll get a very different set of winners when you look for the best deals in ETFs held for a long term. Go to Best ETFs for Investors: Large-Cap to see the cost efficiency of funds held for a decade.
Links to the three-month cost rankings of funds in other categories, such as small and international stocks and bonds, can be found at Best ETFs for Trading.
| 3-month Holding Cost* | |||
| Liquidity Score | |||
| Ticker | Exchange-traded fund | ||
| Diversified | |||
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market | $1.79 | A+ |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 | 2.00 | A+ |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 | 2.24 | A+ |
| SCHB | Schwab US Broad Market | 2.38 | A |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 | 2.95 | A+ |
| SCHX | Schwab US Large-Cap | 2.95 | A |
| ITOT | iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Mkt | 3.26 | A |
| SPTM | SPDR Portfolio Total Stock Market | 4.15 | A |
| VV | Vanguard Large-Cap | 4.22 | A |
| SPLG | SPDR Portfolio Large Cap | 4.61 | A |
| MGC | Vanguard Mega Cap | 4.67 | A |
| SCHK | Schwab 1000 Index | 6.00 | B |
| VONE | Vanguard Russell 1000 | 6.23 | B |
| IWB | iShares Russell 1000 | 6.26 | A |
| OEF | iShares S&P 100 | 6.76 | A |
| IWV | iShares Russell 3000 | 7.30 | A |
| XLG | PowerShares S&P 500 Top 50 | 7.95 | B |
| IYY | iShares Dow Jones US | 8.16 | B |
| JKD | iShares Morningstar Large-Cap | 9.43 | B |
| Value | |||
| VTV | Vanguard Value | 3.43 | A |
| SPYV | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Value | 3.51 | A |
| IUSV | iShares Core S&P US Value | 4.62 | A |
| SCHV | Schwab US Large-Cap Value | 4.66 | A |
| DIA | SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average | 5.63 | A+ |
| MGV | Vanguard Mega Cap Value | 5.79 | B |
| VLUE | iShares Edge MSCI USA Value Factor | 6.18 | A |
| VONV | Vanguard Russell 1000 Value | 6.32 | B |
| IVE | iShares S&P 500 Value | 6.35 | A |
| IWD | iShares Russell 1000 Value | 6.39 | A+ |
| Growth | |||
| VUG | Vanguard Growth | 3.11 | A |
| SCHG | Schwab US Large-Cap Growth | 4.22 | A |
| IUSG | iShares Core S&P US Growth | 4.47 | A |
| SPYG | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth | 4.59 | A |
| QQQ | PowerShares QQQ | 5.67 | A+ |
| MGK | Vanguard Mega Cap Growth | 5.69 | A |
| VONG | Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth | 6.43 | A |
| IVW | iShares S&P 500 Growth | 6.66 | A |
| VOOG | Vanguard S&P 500 Growth | 6.96 | A |
| IWF | iShares Russell 1000 Growth | 7.27 | A |
| IWY | iShares Russell Top 200 Growth | 8.26 | B |
*Cost of a $10,000 position held for three months. Reflects bid/ask spread, expense ratio and cost offset from securities lending.
Data sources: Morningstar, Bloomberg, fund distributors
