DDLS vs SCHC

DDLSCWisdomTree Dynamic International SmallCap Equity ETF

SCHCASchwab International Small-Cap Equity ETF

In short

DDLS Most international small-cap funds pick a lane on currency: fully exposed or fully hedged. DDLS takes a third path, screening developed-market small caps outside the US and Canada for dividend payers, then moving its dollar hedge by rule.

SCHC The bargain end of international small caps: Schwab charges 0.06% where the typical fund in this group sits near 0.40%. Roughly 2,200 stocks from developed markets outside the US, with Canada and South Korea in the mix.

Stated mandate

DDLS The fund seeks exposure to small-capitalization, dividend-paying companies in the industrialized world outside the United States and Canada, with dynamic hedging of applicable foreign-currency fluctuations against the U.S. dollar.

SCHC The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the FTSE Developed Small Cap ex US Liquid Index.

Why people hold it

• DDLS The hedge is the point: a rules-based currency overlay that shifts with the dollar, not the fixed always-on or always-off setting most rivals hand you.wisdomtree.com
• Roughly 1,000 dividend-paying small caps across the industrialized world outside the US and Canada. Broad by design, and it distributes quarterly.
• Running since 2016, so the strategy has worked through several dollar up-and-down stretches rather than one convenient regime.
• Follows a named WisdomTree index rather than a manager's discretion, so the dividend screen and the hedge both operate on published rules.

• SCHC 0.06% a year, against a peer-group median near 0.40%. In a corner of the market where fees usually run high, that gap is most of the pitch.schwabassetmanagement.com
• About 2,200 holdings across developed markets outside the US. Broad enough that it behaves like the asset class rather than a concentrated bet.
• Counts Canada and South Korea as developed markets, covering ground that EAFE-built rivals such as SCZ leave out by design.schwabassetmanagement.comishares.com
• Trading since 2010 and has tracked its FTSE developed small-cap benchmark tightly, one of the cleaner index implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• DDLS At 0.48% it sits above the 0.40% category median, and far above plain-index peers like VSS and SCHC at 0.06%. The hedging machinery is not free.
• Thinly traded next to the category's household names, so execution deserves more attention than with the biggest index funds here.
• The hedge cuts both ways: it damps currency-driven losses and also gives up the tailwind a weakening dollar hands unhedged international funds.wisdomtree.com

• SCHC Foreign small caps swing harder than large caps, and holdings are priced in local currencies, so exchange-rate moves feed straight into results.
• Developed markets only. Emerging-market small caps sit outside the mandate, which is where wider ex-US peers like VSS reach further.
• Moderately traded rather than a top-of-tape name, and distributions land once or twice a year instead of quarterly.

Full DDLS profile⁠

Full SCHC profile⁠