Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
LQD vs VCSH: Differences, Returns & Fees
LQD's duration was 7.7 years on Aug 31, 2026 and VCSH's 2.7 on May 31, 2026; VCSH charges 0.03% to LQD's 0.14%.
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Net assets: $30.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF, and $43.9bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
VCSH costs 0.11 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.7 points; VCSH is 1.6 times larger.
| Measure | LQD | VCSH |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −3.4% | +1.3% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 6.3%, high on Sep 22, 2021 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Markit iBoxx USD Liquid Investment Grade Index | Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.14% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $28.3bn | $43.9bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 17% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated May 31, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Dec 4, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026 · 881 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: LQD against IUSB, Jun 20, 2014 to Oct 23, 2026; VCSH against SCHJ, Oct 18, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026.
LQD returned more: +83.2% to +59.9%. VCSH swung less: 3.5% to 8.5%. VCSH fell less at its worst: −11.3% to −24.7%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | LQD | VCSH | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +83.2% | +59.9% | LQD | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +3.6% | +2.8% | LQD | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −1.9% | +2.8% | VCSH | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 8.5% | 3.5% | VCSH | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 6.0% | 2.5% | VCSH | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −24.7% | −11.3% | VCSH | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 157.4% | 98.3% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 143.3% | 98.3% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.70 | 0.95 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.84 | 0.99 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.28 | 0.37 | VCSH | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.40 | 0.52 | VCSH | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.005 | −0.003 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.15 | 0.25 | VCSH | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IUSB | SCHJ | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.7% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.64 | −0.29 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.4% to +2.8% | −0.4% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.14 | −0.06 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 5.2% | 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, 881 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, LQD and VCSH hold 17% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated May 31, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026.
half
17% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
LQD and VCSH on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
LQD and VCSH do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. LQD follows Markit iBoxx USD Liquid Investment Grade Index and VCSH follows Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 17% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and May 31, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 LQD returned −3.4% and VCSH +1.3% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 4.7 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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LQD
LQD tracks an index of US investment grade bonds. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −3.4% with distributions reinvested, against −1.2% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Universal Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.14% a year. It sat 6.3% below its high of Sep 22, 2021 on Oct 28, 2026.
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, LQD or VCSH?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, LQD returned −3.4% and VCSH +1.3%.
- Which is cheaper, LQD or VCSH?
- VCSH is cheaper, by 0.11 percentage points a year. That is about $11 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, LQD against VCSH, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/lqd-vs-vcsh
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[LQD against VCSH (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/lqd-vs-vcsh)
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