Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
FIXD vs PTRB: Differences, Returns & Fees
FIXD's duration was 6.2 years on Aug 31, 2026 and PTRB's 5.9 on May 29, 2026; PTRB charges 0.49% to FIXD's 0.65%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $2.8bn for First Trust Smith Opportunistic Fixed Income ETF and $1.2bn for PGIM Total Return Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
PTRB costs 0.16 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.0 point; FIXD is 2.3 times larger.
| Measure | FIXD | PTRB |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −2.6% | −1.6% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 5.7%, high on Aug 4, 2021 | 3.2%, high on Feb 27, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | No index, actively managed | No index, actively managed |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.65% | 0.49% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $2.8bn | $1.2bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 2% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated May 29, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Dec 17, 2021 to Oct 23, 2026 · 253 weekly returns · each against AGGPTRB returned more: −0.4% to −4.9%. PTRB swung slightly less: 6.0% to 6.6%. PTRB fell slightly less at its worst: −19.0% to −19.6%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | FIXD | PTRB | AGG | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | −4.9% | −0.4% | PTRB | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | −1.0% | −0.1% | PTRB | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | −22.1% | −20.0% | PTRB (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 6.6% | 6.0% | PTRB (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 5.0% | 4.6% | PTRB (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −19.6% | −19.0% | PTRB (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 109.2% | 101.3% | 100.0% | FIXD (slight) | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 109.8% | 99.6% | 100.0% | PTRB (slight) | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 1.11 | 1.00 | 1.00 | PTRB lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.97 | 0.96 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | −0.73 | −0.66 | PTRB | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | −0.97 | −0.86 | PTRB | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | −0.044 | −0.040 | −0.042 | PTRB (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | −0.05 | 0.00 | PTRB | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | AGG | AGG | AGG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.2% a year | +0.2% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.41 | 0.43 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −1.2% to +0.8% | −0.9% to +1.3% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | −0.51 | 0.21 | PTRB | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.3% | 1.2% | 0.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 253 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, FIXD and PTRB hold 2% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated May 29, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026.
half
2% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
FIXD and PTRB on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
FIXD and PTRB are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- Holdings in common. 2% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and May 29, 2026).
- Cost. FIXD charges 0.65% of assets a year and PTRB 0.49%, a gap of 0.16 points.
- What each follows (similar). Both follow No index, actively managed.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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FIXD
FIXD is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −2.6% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.65% a year. It sat 5.7% below its high of Aug 4, 2021 on Oct 28, 2026.
PTRB
PTRB is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −1.6% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.49% a year. It sat 3.2% below its high of Feb 27, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, FIXD or PTRB?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FIXD returned −2.6% and PTRB −1.6%.
- Which is cheaper, FIXD or PTRB?
- PTRB is cheaper, by 0.16 percentage points a year. That is about $16 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, FIXD against PTRB, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fixd-vs-ptrb
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). FIXD against PTRB. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fixd-vs-ptrb
[FIXD against PTRB (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fixd-vs-ptrb)
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