Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
TLT vs TMF: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, TLT returned −7.9% to TMF's −31.3%, and TLT charges 0.15% to TMF's 0.90%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $47.4bn for iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF and $2.0bn for Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3X ETF.
Pair scorecard
TLT costs 0.75 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 23.4 points; TLT is far larger, $47.4bn against $2.0bn.
| Measure | TLT | TMF |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −7.9% | −31.3% |
| What its daily multiple gave, 3 months | −4.0% | |
| What the underlying did, 3 months | TLT −1.1% | |
| What the underlying did, 3 months | TLT −1.1% | |
| The multiple over the whole window | 3 times gives −3.3% | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 42.6%, high on Aug 4, 2020 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index | 20+ Year Treasury |
| Against its daily multiple, 3 months | 2.5 points short | |
| Against the whole-window multiple | 3.2 points short | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.90% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $47.4bn | $2.0bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
Risk and return
Apr 24, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026 · 913 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: TLT against BBLB, Apr 28, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026; TMF against TLT, Apr 24, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026.
TLT returned more: +36.7% to −67.4%. TLT swung less: 14.1% to 42.3%. TLT fell less at its worst: −47.8% to −93.6%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | TLT | TMF | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +36.7% | −67.4% | TLT | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +1.8% | −6.2% | TLT | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −19.1% | −77.7% | TLT | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 14.1% | 42.3% | TLT | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 10.1% | 30.0% | TLT | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −47.8% | −93.6% | TLT | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 102.4% | 677.5% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 101.2% | 165.3% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.01 | 2.99 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.09 | 0.03 | TLT | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.13 | 0.04 | TLT | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | −0.072 | 0.004 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.04 | −0.07 | TLT | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | BBLB | TLT | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | 0.0% a year | −2.7% a year | TLT not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.01 | −3.94 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.8% to +0.8% | −4.1% to −1.4% | TLT includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.10 | −0.01 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.7% | 28.3% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 913 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
TLT and TMF on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
TLT and TMF do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. TLT follows ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index and TMF follows 20+ Year Treasury.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 TLT returned −7.9% and TMF −31.3% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 23.4 points.
- Cost. TLT charges 0.15% of assets a year and TMF 0.90%, a gap of 0.75 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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TLT
TLT tracks an index of 20+ year Treasuries. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −7.9% with distributions reinvested, against −7.8% for its benchmark, the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. It sat 42.6% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
Over the three months to Oct 28, 2026, TMF lost 6.5%, against −4.0% for three times TLT's daily moves. Of that 3.2, daily compounding is −0.7 points, which any 3 times fund would show over the same path, and the fund itself is −2.5 points against 3 times each day's move, compounded. TLT moved at 11% annualized over that window.
Read the multiple against the whole window instead and 3 times TLT's −1.1% implies −3.3%, which makes TMF look 3.2 points short. That is not the fund's objective, which is daily. TMF aims to return +3 times TLT's move each day, then resets. Over one day it does that. Over longer periods the daily results compound, so the total is not +3 times the period's move: it is lower after a fall and recovery, and can be higher in a steady run. The more it moves, the further the two numbers separate.
Questions people ask
- Are TLT and TMF in the same category?
- TLT is a bond ETF and TMF is a leveraged ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, TLT or TMF?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, TLT returned −7.9% and TMF −31.3%.
- Which is cheaper, TLT or TMF?
- TLT is cheaper, by 0.75 percentage points a year. That is about $75 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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ETFIQ, TLT against TMF, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/tlt-vs-tmf
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). TLT against TMF. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/tlt-vs-tmf
[TLT against TMF (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/tlt-vs-tmf)
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