Dimensional - Short Duration Fixed Income ETF
$46.51−0.25 (−0.53%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.17%
- Fund size
- $7.3B
- 1Y return
- +1.4%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 4.88%
- Holdings
- 1275
- Volume · 30D
- 0.5M sh
- NAV per share
- $46.75
- 52W range
The ETF.net DFSD Grade
Score 58 of 100 sits in the B band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.DScore 37Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 100Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 33Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 64Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.CScore 47Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 66Category rank
Our read on DFSD
BDimensional's front-of-the-curve bond fund: actively run, rules-driven, and priced at 0.17%, under half the typical bond ETF fee. Mostly investment-grade paper maturing inside five years.
The fund seeks to maximize total returns by investing across the universe of fixed-income securities.
Why people hold it
- At 0.17%, it costs less than half the 0.36% median fee among bond ETFs in its peer group, and that price buys active management, not index tracking.
- Lives at the short end: primarily investment-grade bonds maturing within five years, measured against a 1-5 year US corporate and government benchmark.aaii.com
- Spread across well over a thousand bond positions, so one issuer's trouble barely registers at the portfolio level.
- A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, which tends to keep spread costs modest on everyday-sized orders.
Worth knowing
- Cheap for active, but plain-vanilla index bond funds like BND and SCHZ run 0.03%. The gap is what you pay for the security selection.
- Short maturities cut interest-rate sensitivity in both directions: less damage when yields rise, less lift when they fall.aaii.com
- Payouts follow an irregular schedule rather than a fixed monthly rhythm, so income timing isn't something to set a calendar by.
DFSD Holdings
- Bonds
- 1,275
- 9%
- NEW ZEALA 4.5% 05/15/30
Geography
- United States70.29%
- Canada9.29%
- Japan3.19%
- New Zealand2.74%
- United Kingdom2.52%
- France2.43%
- Netherlands2.01%
- Australia1.98%
- 5.55%
Developed 100% · Emerging 0%
DFSD Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | DFSD |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +0.3% |
| 1 month | −0.8% |
| 3 months | −0.4% |
| 1 year | +1.4% |
| 3 years | +4.9% |
| 5 years | — |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | DFSD |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +0.3% | |
| 2025 | +6.6% | |
| 2024 | +4.6% | |
| 2023 | +6.1% | |
| 2022 | −5.9% | |
| 2021 | −0.0% |
DFSD in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on DFSD yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
DFSD Dividends
- 4.88%
- $2.28
- $0.17 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 22, 2026 | Pays Sep 24, 2026 | $0.17 |
| Aug 18, 2026 | Aug 20, 2026 | $0.14 |
| Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 23, 2026 | $0.33 |
| Jun 23, 2026 | Jun 25, 2026 | $0.24 |
| May 19, 2026 | May 21, 2026 | $0.14 |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Apr 23, 2026 | $0.15 |
| Mar 24, 2026 | Mar 26, 2026 | $0.15 |
| Dec 16, 2025 | Dec 18, 2025 | $0.38 |
| Nov 18, 2025 | Nov 20, 2025 | $0.22 |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Oct 23, 2025 | $0.18 |
| Sep 23, 2025 | Sep 25, 2025 | $0.17 |
| Aug 19, 2025 | Aug 21, 2025 | $0.21 |
DFSD Risk
- 1.7%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.26
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −8.5%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.26
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
DFSD Cost
- The middle half of Investment Grade Corporate (0-5 Year) funds
- Median 0.15%
13 of the 23 Investment Grade Corporate (0-5 Year) funds charge less.