Which returned more over the last year, DFAX or IXUS?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAX returned +20.9% and IXUS +18.0%.

Which is cheaper, DFAX or IXUS?

IXUS is cheaper, by 0.21 percentage points a year. That is about $21 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do DFAX and IXUS overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAX and 0% of IXUS by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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DFAX vs IXUS: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAX and IXUS hold 45% of their weight in the same names, and DFAX returned +20.9% over the year. Net assets: $12.0bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional World ex U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF, and $58.6bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF.

IXUS costs 0.21 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.9 points; IXUS is 4.9 times larger.

	DFAX	IXUS
Expense ratio	0.28%	0.07%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$12.0bn	$58.4bn
Total return, 1 year	+20.9%	+18.0%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	MSCI ACWI ex USA IMI
Holdings in common	45%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	8.2%	14.3%
Below its high	3.4%, high on Sep 4, 2026	3.8%, high on Sep 4, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

+20.9%

DFAX total return, 1 year

+18.0%

IXUS total return, 1 year

0.28%

DFAX expense ratio

0.07%

IXUS expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAX and IXUS hold 45% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

50%

half

45% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAX IXUS

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 1.86% 4.68%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 1.34% 2.18%

SK hynix Inc. 0.81% 1.65%

ASML Holding N.V. 0.62% 1.68%

Novartis AG 0.67% 0.61%

Tencent Holdings Limited 0.49% 0.76%

SHELL PLC 0.48% 0.69%

Nestle S.A. 0.40% 0.56%

TOTALENERGIES SE 0.54% 0.40%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.38% 0.41%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.36% 0.63%

Allianz SE 0.30% 0.42%

Only in DFAX

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 0.99%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.29%

Deutsche Telekom AG 0.26%

Bayer Aktiengesellschaft 0.26%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.26%

BP P.L.C. 0.25%

UNICREDIT, SOCIETA PER AZIONI 0.24%

BASF SE 0.20%

Only in IXUS

ROCHE PS PAR AG 0.71%

SIEMENS N AG 0.51%

SHOPIFY SUBORDINATE VOTING CLASS A 0.47%

TORONTO DOMINION 0.45%

BP PLC 0.29%

SIEMENS ENERGY N AG 0.29%

LAIR LIQUIDE SOCIETE ANONYME POUR 0.28%

NOVO NORDISK CLASS B 0.28%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

DFAX

Dimensional World ex U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF

IXUS

iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional iShares

What it is Actively managed Tracks the MSCI Total International Stock

Total return, 1 year +20.9% +18.0%

S&P 500 over the same days +17.3% +17.3%

Gap to the S&P 500 +3.6 pts +0.7 pts

Expense ratio 0.28% 0.07%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 10481 4586

Net assets, DFAX as of Jul 31, 2026 and IXUS as of Oct 9, 2026 $12.0bn $58.6bn

DFAX and IXUS on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

DFAX in plain words

DFAX is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +20.9% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.28% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 10,481 positions, with the top ten at 8.2%. It sat 3.4% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

IXUS in plain words

IXUS tracks the MSCI Total International Stock. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +18.0% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.07% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 4,586 positions, with the top ten at 14.3%. It sat 3.8% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAX or IXUS?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAX returned +20.9% and IXUS +18.0%.
Which is cheaper, DFAX or IXUS?: IXUS is cheaper, by 0.21 percentage points a year. That is about $21 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFAX and IXUS overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAX and 0% of IXUS by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAX vs SCHF DFAX vs VEU DFAX vs EFA DFAX vs SPDW IDMO vs IXUS IXUS vs SPDW IXUS vs SCHF IXUS vs VEU

DFAX on its own →IXUS on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

DFAX filings on SEC EDGAR ↗DFAX prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗Dimensional website ↗IXUS filings on SEC EDGAR ↗IXUS prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for IXUS ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, DFAX against IXUS, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfax-vs-ixus

Open data

Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.