Vanguard Core Bond ETF
$74.34−0.65 (−0.86%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.10%
- Fund size
- $7.7B
- 1Y return
- +0.3%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 4.76%
- Volume · 30D
- 0.6M sh
- NAV per share
- $74.90
- 52W range
The ETF.net VCRB Grade
Score 78 of 100 sits in the A 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.AScore 82Category 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.CScore 46Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 66Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 86Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 79Category rank
Our read on VCRB
AVanguard's active answer to its own index bond giant: VCRB roams the US investment-grade market looking to beat the Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, and charges 0.10% to try.
The fund seeks to outperform the broad U.S. investment-grade fixed-income market, measured by the Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, by investing across fixed-income securities with different maturities, yields, and qualities.
Why people hold it
- Active management at near-index pricing: 0.10% a year, against a typical core-bond fee closer to 0.36%.
- Clear scorecard. It is measured against the same Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index that Vanguard's index fund BND simply tracks, so the active bet is easy to judge.
- Wide net: roughly 1,600 bonds across different maturities, yields and credit qualities, with income paid monthly.
- Already a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund, which is rare for a young active bond ETF.
Worth knowing
- Active means human calls. Returns can drift from the benchmark in either direction, unlike the index route BND takes at 0.03%.
- US investment-grade only. No international sleeve, no high-yield kicker, and like any core bond fund it moves with interest rates.
- Launched December 2023, so its live record is short next to core bond funds with decades behind them.
VCRB Holdings
- Bonds
- —
- 8%
- MKTLIQ 12/31/2049
Sectors
- Securitized40.7%
- Corporate29.8%
- Government29.5%
- Municipal0.0%
Geography
- United States71.14%
- United Kingdom2.42%
- Italy2.24%
- Spain1.67%
- Canada1.49%
- Chile1.44%
- Japan1.39%
- Mexico1.24%
- 16.96%
VCRB 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 | VCRB |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −0.8% |
| 1 month | −0.9% |
| 3 months | −1.4% |
| 1 year | +0.3% |
| 3 years | — |
| 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 | VCRB |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −0.8% | |
| 2025 | +7.6% | |
| 2024 | +2.2% | |
| 2023 | +0.7% |
VCRB in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on VCRB yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
VCRB Dividends
- 4.76%
- $3.57
- $0.30 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | Sep 3, 2026 | $0.30 |
| Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 5, 2026 | $0.30 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | Jul 6, 2026 | $0.30 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 | $0.29 |
| May 1, 2026 | May 5, 2026 | $0.29 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 | $0.29 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | Mar 4, 2026 | $0.26 |
| Feb 2, 2026 | Feb 4, 2026 | $0.27 |
| Dec 18, 2025 | Dec 22, 2025 | $0.42 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | Dec 3, 2025 | $0.28 |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Nov 5, 2025 | $0.29 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | Oct 3, 2025 | $0.28 |
VCRB Risk
- 4.3%
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.
- −0.18
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.
- −4.6%
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.
- 0.14
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
VCRB Cost
- The middle half of US Aggregate Bond funds
- Median 0.34%
17 of the 112 US Aggregate Bond funds charge less.