BKAG vs MAGG

BKAGABNY Mellon Core Bond ETF

MAGGCMadison Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

BKAG A core bond index fund that charges nothing. BKAG tracks the same Bloomberg US Aggregate benchmark the giants track, at a 0.00% expense ratio, and has been doing it since 2020.

MAGG Madison's compact take on the Agg: roughly 200 bonds instead of the benchmark's thousands, paying monthly. A hand-built core bond portfolio at the category's median fee, in a corner of the market where the index giants charge pennies.

Stated mandate

BKAG The fund seeks to track the Bloomberg US Aggregate Total Return Index.

MAGG The fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus investment-purpose borrowings, in bonds.

Why people hold it

• BKAG A 0.00% expense ratio. The median fund in the core bond group charges 0.36%, and even the cheap giants (BND, SPAB, SCHZ) charge 0.03%.
• Tracks the Bloomberg US Aggregate Total Return Index tightly, one of the closest index-following records in its peer group.
• Broad by design: roughly 4,000 bonds in the portfolio, with distributions paid monthly rather than quarterly.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund from BNY Mellon, wrapped in a standard 1940 Act ETF structure with no exotic mechanics.

• MAGG Holds about 200 bonds against a Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate benchmark that spans thousands: a curated portfolio, not a full index replica.
• The 0.36% fee sits right at the category median and matches Fidelity's FBND, so the managed approach doesn't carry a boutique premium.
• Pays monthly, and the prospectus commits at least 80% of net assets to bonds, keeping it a core fixed income sleeve rather than a wanderer.

Worth knowing

• BKAG Rate risk is the trade-off. This is full-market bond exposure, and bond prices move opposite interest rates. Volatility is the weakest part of its profile.
• Moderately traded, not one of the volume monsters in the category. Spreads and limit orders matter more here than with the largest core bond names.
• At zero, the fee edge over 0.03% rivals is real but small in dollar terms, so tracking and trading costs do more of the work.

• MAGG Index funds on the same Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate benchmark (BND, AGG, SPAB) charge 0.03%, roughly a twelfth of this fee.
• Thinly traded with a modest asset base, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the category anchors', which shows up most on bigger orders.
• Launched in 2023, it has a short live record next to the decades-old funds tracking the same benchmark.

Full BKAG profile⁠

Full MAGG profile⁠