Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
DFSD vs VCSH: Differences, Returns & Fees
DFSD's duration was 2.9 years on Jul 31, 2026 and VCSH's 2.7 on May 31, 2026; VCSH charges 0.03% to DFSD's 0.16%.
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Net assets: $7.1bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional Short-Duration Fixed Income ETF, and $43.9bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
VCSH costs 0.13 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.2 points.
| Measure | DFSD | VCSH |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +1.1% | +1.3% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | No index, actively managed | Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.16% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, DFSD as of Jul 31, 2026 and VCSH as of Sep 30, 2026 | $7.1bn | $43.9bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 18% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated May 31, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Nov 26, 2021 to Oct 23, 2026 · 256 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: DFSD against AGG, Nov 26, 2021 to Oct 23, 2026; VCSH against SCHJ, Oct 18, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026.
VCSH returned more: +13.2% to +11.9%. DFSD swung less: 2.5% to 2.8%. DFSD and VCSH fell about the same at their worst: −8.3% and −8.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | DFSD | VCSH | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +11.9% | +13.2% | VCSH | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +2.3% | +2.6% | VCSH (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −6.7% | −4.7% | VCSH | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 2.5% | 2.8% | DFSD | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 1.9% | 2.1% | DFSD (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −8.3% | −8.2% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 39.0% | 98.3% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 32.6% | 98.3% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.35 | 0.95 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.72 | 0.99 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | −0.69 | −0.50 | VCSH | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | −0.87 | −0.68 | VCSH | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | −0.048 | −0.003 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.28 | 0.31 | VCSH | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | AGG | SCHJ | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.2% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.40 | −0.29 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.4% to +0.9% | −0.4% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.60 | −0.06 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 4.0% | 0.5% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 256 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, DFSD and VCSH hold 18% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated May 31, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026.
half
18% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
DFSD and VCSH on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
DFSD and VCSH are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. DFSD follows No index, actively managed and VCSH follows Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 18% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and May 31, 2026).
- Cost. DFSD charges 0.16% of assets a year and VCSH 0.03%, a gap of 0.13 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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DFSD
DFSD is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.1% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.16% a year.
VCSH
VCSH tracks an index of Short-Term Corporate Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.3% with distributions reinvested, against +1.3% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, DFSD or VCSH?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFSD returned +1.1% and VCSH +1.3%.
- Which is cheaper, DFSD or VCSH?
- VCSH is cheaper, by 0.13 percentage points a year. That is about $13 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. 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.
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ETFIQ, DFSD against VCSH, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfsd-vs-vcsh
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