Vanguard files for a U.S. small-mid cap active ETF after last year’s three reached $161 million
Vanguard Quantitative Funds filed a Form 485APOS on September 18 for Vanguard U.S. Small-Mid Cap Active ETF, proposing a December 3, 2026 effective date, after last year’s three active equity ETFs reached $161 million.
Vanguard filed on Friday for a quantitative U.S. small- and mid-cap active ETF, with no ticker and no management fee yet named. The three Wellington-managed active equity ETFs it opened last November hold $161 million. Vanguard asked that the registration take effect on December 3. The shares may not be sold until it does.
Those funds began on November 14, 2025: U.S. Value Active VUSV at 0.30%, U.S. Growth Active VUSG at 0.35%, and Dividend Growth Active VDIG at 0.40%. They hold concentrated books of large-cap names under Wellington Management. This filing does not change their objectives, fees, or holdings.
Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap ETF VB, an index fund, holds $185 billion at 0.03%. Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF VO holds $226 billion at the same fee. The firm that offers this capitalization range at three basis points is proposing an active product in it at a price it has not named.
Closest to this filing’s benchmark is MFS Blended Research Small-Mid Cap ETF BRSM, which also manages risk relative to the Russell 2500. It opened on June 4, charges 0.38%, and holds $27 million.
Chart: **Millions** in active ETFs, hundreds of billions in VB and VO
What Vanguard U.S. Small-Mid Cap Active ETF would do
The filing is a post-effective amendment, Form 485APOS, Post-Effective Amendment No. 75 to the Vanguard Quantitative Funds registration. The prospectus displays ticker XXXX and exchange XXX. The expense table leaves the management fee and other expenses unfilled. There is no 12b-1 fee. The fund had not commenced operations as of the statement of additional information.
The stated objective is long-term capital appreciation. That objective is non-fundamental: the board can change it without a shareholder vote. Under normal conditions the fund would invest at least 80% of net assets, plus investment borrowings, in U.S. small- and mid-cap securities whose capitalizations generally sit in the range of the FTSE Russell 2500 Index, and it would use that index as its performance benchmark. The fund would use a quantitative process to evaluate securities in that benchmark and would seek a risk profile similar to the index.
The Quantitative Funds trust runs this neighborhood
Vanguard Quantitative Funds houses Vanguard Strategic Equity Fund, a $12.4 billion quantitative small- and mid-cap mutual fund that has been open since 1995 and charges 0.17%, and Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund, a $3.3 billion quantitative small-cap fund at 0.21%. The filing does not say the ETF would be a share class of either fund, and the benchmarks differ: Strategic Equity is run against a spliced small- and mid-cap index built on MSCI U.S. small- and mid-cap universes, not the Russell 2500. What they share is the trust, the quantitative process, and the small-mid capitalization range.
Jeff DeMaso, writing on Friday in The Independent Vanguard Adviser, put it in house terms: “Vanguard’s model-driven stock team, not Wellington, takes the next step in the firm’s active ETF build-out.” He also flagged the calendar, noting that Vanguard has delayed ETF launches before and that a slip into 2027 would not be a surprise. That is a third-party reading of Vanguard’s recent launch record, not a date in the filing.
Active small-mid cap ETFs on the shelf
etf.net’s U.S. active small/mid-cap group has 48 ETFs. The larger funds mix fundamental stock-pickers and systematic, benchmark-aware processes, which is the neighborhood this filing describes. Fees on those funds run from 0.18% to 0.55%.
Strategic Equity, in the same trust, charges 0.17%.
The terms a listing would meet are on the shelf: $27 million in the closest Russell 2500 analogue, $161 million in Vanguard’s three Wellington-managed active equity ETFs ten months in, and $185 billion and $226 billion in the firm’s small- and mid-cap index funds at three basis points.
Frequently asked
What would the fund actually hold?
At least 80% of net assets in U.S. small- and mid-cap stocks in the capitalization range of the FTSE Russell 2500 Index, picked by a quantitative process aiming for a risk profile similar to that index.
What will it cost?
Vanguard has not said: the expense table leaves the management fee and other expenses blank, and there is no ticker yet either.
Who runs it?
Vanguard's own quantitative equity group, through the Vanguard Quantitative Funds trust, not Wellington, which manages the three active equity ETFs launched last November.
Is the launch date firm?
No: Vanguard asked for a December 3 effective date, and one observer noted the firm has delayed ETF launches before, so a slip into 2027 would not be a surprise.