Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF
$51.59−0.82 (−1.56%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.03%
- Fund size
- $15.1B
- 1Y return
- −2.9%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 4.82%
- Holdings
- 69
- Volume · 30D
- 2.2M sh
- NAV per share
- $52.39
- 52W range
The ETF.net VGLT Grade
Score 86 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 92Category 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.BScore 66Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 69Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 92Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 87Category rank
Our read on VGLT
AThree basis points for the long end of the Treasury curve. VGLT tracks a market-weighted index of long-dated government bonds, pays income monthly, and charges a fraction of what this category typically costs.
The fund seeks to track a market-weighted Treasury index with a long-term dollar-weighted average maturity. It uses index sampling and invests at least 80% of assets in securities included in the target index.
Why people hold it
- 0.03% a year, a fifth of TLT's 0.15% and the lowest fee among its long-Treasury peers.investor.vanguard.com
- Sticks to the mandate: index sampling of the Bloomberg U.S. Long Treasury Bond Index, with at least 80% of assets in index securities and one of the tightest implementations in its group.vanguard.com
- Pure US Treasury paper, roughly 70 bonds, no corporate credit risk in the mix, with distributions paid monthly.fund-docs.vanguard.com
- A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, which generally keeps bid-ask spreads modest for a long-bond vehicle.
Worth knowing
- Duration is the point and the risk. Long maturities mean prices swing hard when long-term yields move, in both directions.
- Not a 20-year-and-out pure play. The benchmark is the broad long Treasury index, so duration runs shorter than TLT or BBLB and shorter still than sibling EDV.
- Fixed coupons from a government issuer: no credit spread to earn, and inflation erodes the real value of that income.
VGLT Holdings
- Bonds
- 69
- 21%
- United States Treasury Note/Bond 5.00% 05/15/2056
Geography
- United States100.00%
VGLT 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 | VGLT |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −3.1% |
| 1 month | −0.2% |
| 3 months | −3.5% |
| 1 year | −2.9% |
| 3 years | +1.4% |
| 5 years | −7.3% |
| 10 years | −1.7% |
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 | VGLT |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −3.1% | |
| 2025 | +5.3% | |
| 2024 | −6.3% | |
| 2023 | +3.3% | |
| 2022 | −29.4% | |
| 2021 | −5.0% | |
| 2020 | +17.6% |
VGLT in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on VGLT yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
VGLT Dividends
- 4.82%
- $2.53
- $0.22 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | Sep 3, 2026 | $0.22 |
| Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 5, 2026 | $0.21 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | Jul 6, 2026 | $0.21 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 | $0.21 |
| May 1, 2026 | May 5, 2026 | $0.21 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 | $0.23 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | Mar 4, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Feb 2, 2026 | Feb 4, 2026 | $0.21 |
| Dec 18, 2025 | Dec 22, 2025 | $0.21 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | Dec 3, 2025 | $0.20 |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Nov 5, 2025 | $0.21 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | Oct 3, 2025 | $0.21 |
VGLT Risk
- 12.8%
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.
- −0.29
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.
- −41.0%
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.
- 2.25
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
VGLT Cost
- The middle half of Treasuries (20+ Year) funds
- Median 0.15%
No Treasuries (20+ Year) fund charges less.