Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QUAL vs SCHX: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QUAL and SCHX finished level, +13.1% against +13.1%, and they share 41% of their weight.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about QUAL and SCHX
Net assets: $48.2bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF, and $74.2bn on Aug 31, 2026 for Schwab U.S. Large-Cap ETF.
Pair scorecard
SCHX costs 0.12 points a year less; both returned +13.1% over a year.
| Measure | QUAL | SCHX |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.1% | +13.1% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index | Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Total Stock Market Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, QUAL as of Oct 28, 2026 and SCHX as of Aug 31, 2026 | $48.2bn | $74.2bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 41% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 44.5% | 36.0% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026 · 691 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QUAL against MLRG, Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026; SCHX against IVV, Nov 13, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026.
SCHX returned slightly more: +455.0% to +444.7%. QUAL and SCHX swung about the same: 16.2% and 16.2%. QUAL fell slightly less at its worst: −31.4% to −32.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QUAL | SCHX | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +444.7% | +455.0% | SCHX (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +13.6% | +13.8% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +346.8% | +344.9% | Tie | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 16.2% | 16.2% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.2% | 11.2% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −31.4% | −32.3% | QUAL (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 98.8% | 100.5% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 98.8% | 100.5% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.97 | 1.01 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.95 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.75 | 0.76 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.09 | 1.09 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.126 | 0.129 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.43 | 0.43 | Tie | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | MLRG | IVV | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.6% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.59 | −0.62 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.4% to +2.6% | −0.6% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.06 | −0.05 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.7% | 0.9% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 691 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QUAL and SCHX hold 41% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
41% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
QUAL and SCHX on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QUAL and SCHX are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. QUAL follows MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index and SCHX follows Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Total Stock Market Index.
- Holdings in common. 41% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026).
- Number of holdings. QUAL holds 119 positions and SCHX holds 747.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
QUAL
QUAL tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.1% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 119 positions, with the top ten at 44.5%.
SCHX
SCHX tracks an index of U.S. Large-Cap. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.1% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings filed for Aug 31, 2026, 94% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 747 positions, with the top ten at 36.0%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or SCHX?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +13.1% and SCHX +13.1%.
- Which is cheaper, QUAL or SCHX?
- SCHX is cheaper, by 0.12 percentage points a year. That is about $12 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.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, QUAL against SCHX, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-schx
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QUAL against SCHX. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-schx
[QUAL against SCHX (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-schx)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.