AAEQ vs STXK

AAEQBAlpha Architect US Equity 2 ETF

STXKCStrive Small-Cap ETF

In short

AAEQ Plain US beta with a size floor: market-cap-weighted exposure to American stocks worth at least $1 billion, for 0.09% a year. It launched in December 2025, so the strategy is old-fashioned but the fund itself is brand new.

STXK Strive's swing at small caps: one ticker for roughly 600 smaller U.S. companies, tracking Bloomberg's US 2000 index for 0.18% a year, a hair under its peer group's median fee.

Stated mandate

AAEQ The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through broadly diversified exposure to the U.S. stock market, using market-cap-weighted exposure to U.S. stocks with market capitalization of at least $1 billion.

STXK The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Bloomberg US 2000 Index, representing U.S. small- and mid-capitalization equities.

Why people hold it

• AAEQ 0.09% a year, under half what the typical fund in its peer group charges.
• Boring by design: market-cap weighting, no stock picking, and a $1 billion size floor that screens out the market's smallest names.alphaarchitect.com
• The stated mandate is broad diversification across the US market, not a concentrated wager on a handful of names or one sector.alphaarchitect.com

• STXK Charges 0.18% a year, under the 0.20% median for its peer group and well below the 0.30% on Janus Henderson's small/mid growth fund, JSMD.
• Roughly 600 small- and mid-cap U.S. stocks in one line item, so the outcome rides on the smaller end of the market rather than a handful of names.
• Simple, legible job: track the Bloomberg US 2000 and stay in U.S. equities. On mandate fidelity it lands in the upper half of its peer group.
• Standard 1940 Act fund structure with quarterly distributions. No leverage, no derivatives wrapper, no options overlay to decode.

Worth knowing

• AAEQ Trading is thin, so spreads can run wider than at the category's household names. How you place the order matters more here.
• It opened in December 2025, so there is little live history on how closely it tracks or how it handles a real drawdown.
• Cheap, but not the cheapest shelf in the aisle: ILCB covers broad US equity at 0.03%.

• STXK Thinly traded, so bid/ask spreads can run wider than on the household-name small-cap funds.
• Small and mid caps move harder in both directions than large-cap benchmarks. Bumpier ride is the price of admission here.
• Launched in 2022 and still modest in size, so the track record is short next to the decades-old small-cap index funds.

Full AAEQ profile⁠

Full STXK profile⁠