DFAC vs FMCX

DFACADimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF

FMCXDFM Focus Equity ETF

In short

DFAC Dimensional's whole-market workhorse: roughly 2,600 US stocks in one ticker, run by managers who weigh federal tax consequences before they trade, at a fee closer to index funds than to active ones.

FMCX A rare active ETF that keeps its cards face down: FMCX runs 25-35 high-conviction US stocks and files holdings quarterly like a mutual fund, with a verified intraday value published every second. First Manhattan's first fund, launched 2022.

Stated mandate

DFAC The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation while considering federal income-tax implications in its investment decisions.

FMCX The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• DFAC 0.17% a year for an actively run fund, well under the median fee among active US equity ETFs.
• About 2,600 US stocks under one ticker, so it holds the market broadly rather than a narrow slice of it.
• Federal income-tax implications sit inside the stated objective, not in a footnote, so they factor into what managers buy and sell.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund with a track record running back to 2007 and one of the strongest implementations in its peer group.

• FMCX Non-transparent by design: holdings go to the SEC quarterly, not daily, while a verified intraday value ticks every second so market makers can still price shares.sec.gov
• Genuinely concentrated: 25-35 US exchange-listed common stocks of any market cap under normal conditions, picked by First Manhattan's research bench. No closet indexing.sec.gov
• At 0.72%, the fee sits near the category median for US active equity, even with a concentrated, individually researched portfolio behind it.
• Brings a long-established private advisory firm's separate-account research process into an ETF wrapper; FMCX was the firm's debut fund in 2022.businesswire.com

Worth knowing

• DFAC Actively managed, so there's no published index to check it against. Holdings and tilts shift at the managers' discretion.
• Dimensional's own DFAU runs a US core equity mandate for 0.12%, a slightly lighter fee for a similar shelf.
• All stocks, all US: the mandate is capital appreciation from equities, so it takes the market's full swings, and cash arrives quarterly.

• FMCX Thinly traded. Spreads and premiums or discounts to fair value carry more weight here than at high-volume peers, and larger orders can move the price.
• You see the portfolio quarterly, not every morning. That is the trade for the structure: more weight on the manager's process, less on your own eyeballs.sec.gov
• Cost sits well above the category's cheapest top-graded options, such as DFAU at 0.12% and AVLC at 0.15%, which spread risk across far more names.

Full DFAC profile⁠

Full FMCX profile⁠