AGG vs FTCB: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

AGGANYSE Arca

First Trust Core Investment Grade ETF

FTCBCNYSE Arca

Overlap

No data

Expense ratio

AGG −0.53pt a year

AGG0.03%FTCB0.56%

Avg volume · 30D

AGG 11.9×the volume

AGG9.95MFTCB839K

AGG vs FTCB Performance

Oct 31, 2025 – Oct 30, 2026

−0.2%AGG−0.6%FTCB

Expense ratio: AGG 0.03%, better; FTCB 0.56%
Fund size: AGG $140B; FTCB $2.76B
1Y total return: AGG −0.2%, better; FTCB −0.6%
Yield (12M): AGG 4.12%; FTCB 5.50%, better
Holdings: AGG 13428; FTCB 724
Avg volume (30D): AGG 9.95M sh, better; FTCB 839K sh
NAV per share: AGG $96.45; FTCB $20.18
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for AGG, FTCB, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	AGG	FTCB
Cost30% weight	A97Higher	F13
Mission25% weight	A100	A100
Risk15% weight	C47Higher	D32
Tradability15% weight	A94Higher	B66
Holdings10% weight	A77Higher	C48
Durability5% weight	A95Higher	A70

Rank among US Aggregate Bond funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. AGG and FTCB are both graded against the same 114 US Aggregate Bond funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

US Aggregate Bond⁠

Category · 114 funds

See all 114 ›

AGG ranks 1st and FTCB 78th of 114 funds in the US Aggregate Bond Category.

Rank 1AAGGiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETFScore 87
Rank 2AIUSBiShares Core Universal USD Bond ETFScore 86
Rank 76CWABFWestern Asset Bond ETFScore 52
Rank 78CFTCBFirst Trust Core Investment Grade ETFScore 51
Rank 78CMAGGMadison Aggregate Bond ETFScore 51

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

FTCBCFirst Trust Core Investment Grade ETF

In short

AGG Launched in 2003, one of the first funds to pack the entire U.S. investment-grade bond market into a single ticker: Treasuries, corporates and mortgage bonds, three basis points a year, cash paid monthly.

FTCB First Trust's take on the core bond sleeve: roughly 300 investment-grade bonds, no index to hug, income paid monthly. You pay up for a manager making the calls instead of a benchmark doing it for free.

Stated mandate

AGG The fund seeks to track the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, providing broad exposure to the total U.S. investment-grade bond market.

FTCB The fund seeks long-term total return and normally invests its entire investment portfolio in investment-grade securities.

Why people hold it

AGG 0.03% a year against a peer-group median near 0.36%. On a bond fund, the fee comes straight out of the coupon, so the gap matters more than it looks.
A $100 billion-plus fund and very actively traded, the kind of depth that keeps bid-ask costs down for retail-sized orders.
Tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate closely, with one of the tightest index-following records in its peer group. Income is distributed monthly.
Running since 2003, giving it one of the longest track records among U.S. bond index ETFs.

FTCB Does what the label says. The mandate keeps the entire portfolio in investment-grade securities, and the fund has stayed tightly inside that brief.ftportfolios.com
Pays monthly, spread across roughly 300 bonds, so income lands on a steady rhythm rather than in quarterly lumps.
Launched in 2023 and already a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so size and liquidity are not the weak links here.

Worth knowing

AGG Investment grade and U.S. dollar only. High-yield debt and foreign bonds sit outside the mandate, so this is designed as core ballast rather than a yield hunt.
Rate risk comes as it comes. The index gets tracked whether yields rise or fall, with no manager stepping in to shorten duration.
The same index is sold by SPAB, SCHZ and BBAG at the same 0.03%. The portfolio is the commodity here; scale and trading depth are the tiebreakers.

FTCB Fee is the headline trade-off: 0.56% a year, above the typical core-bond fund, while index staples like BND, SPAB and SCHZ charge 0.03%.
No declared index to measure the manager against. The shape of the portfolio is the team's call, within the investment-grade mandate.
It sits in the intermediate-term bond lane. Investment grade trims credit risk; it does nothing about the pull of interest rates.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full FTCB profile⁠

AGG vs FTCB Holdings

How AGG and FTCB differ

No overlap figure

Two bond funds rarely hold the same issues.

Level by level

Countryby domicile95.2%
Asset classFixed Income100%

Sector

No Sector split for FTCB.

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in AGG and FTCB, widest gap first
Country	More in AGGMore in FTCB	AGG	FTCB
Panama	FTCB +2.7 points	0.2%	2.9%
United States	AGG +1.7 points	94.8%	93.1%
United Kingdom	AGG +0.8 points	0.8%	0.0%
Ireland	FTCB +0.8 points	0.1%	0.9%
Japan	AGG +0.5 points	0.5%	0.0%
Other countries (25)	AGG +0.3 points	3.4%	3.1%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

AGG6.5%
FTCB36.5%

Securities held

AGG12,534
FTCB723

Asset class

AGG: Fixed Income
FTCB: Fixed Income

Holdings

Two bond funds rarely hold the same issues, so this page lists no shared Holdings. AGG holds 12,534 securities, FTCB 723.

All 13,484 AGG holdings⁠All 788 FTCB holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

AGG vs FTCB Cost

Overpaying FTCB vs AGG

$10,450

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

AGG 0.03%
$638
FTCB 0.56%
$11,088

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

AGG 0.03%
FTCB 0.56%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	AGG	FTCB	Overpaying
10	$55	$1,006	$951
20	$216	$3,855	$3,639
30	$638	$11,088	$10,450

Expense ratio

0.03%AGG, cheaper
0.56%FTCB

AGG0.03%FTCB0.56%

0.00%1.04%

Middle half of US Aggregate Bond funds
Median 0.34%

AGG 2nd cheapest of 114 funds

FTCB 101st cheapest of 114 funds

AGG vs FTCB Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): AGG 4.12%; FTCB 5.50%, better
Payout (12M): AGG $3.97; FTCB $1.11
Last payment: AGG $0.33; FTCB $0.08
Ex-dividend: AGG Oct 1, 2026; FTCB Oct 21, 2026
Paid on: AGG Oct 6, 2026; FTCB Oct 30, 2026
Frequency: AGG Monthly; FTCB Monthly

Distribution history

Per share, 2023 to 2026, same scale for both

AGGMonthly · 45 paymentsAll AGG payments⁠

FTCBMonthly · 35 paymentsAll FTCB payments⁠

AGG vs FTCB Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: AGG 5.6%FTCB 5.6%since Dec 2023
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: AGG 0.17FTCB 0.03since Dec 2023
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: AGG −17.3%FTCB −5.6%since Nov 2023
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: AGG 0.99FTCB 0.16; Market = 1

AGG and FTCB in the news

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AGG vs FTCB

In short

Stated mandate

Why people hold it