DFAU vs MSTB

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

MSTBDLHA Market State Tactical Beta ETF

In short

DFAU Active management priced like an index fund. Dimensional spreads across roughly 2,400 US stocks, then tilts the weights toward value, profitability and momentum instead of simply mirroring the Russell 3000.

MSTB Instead of a standing options collar, MSTB keeps S&P 500 exposure and reaches for VIX futures only when its volatility signals flash stress, then can stand the hedge down when markets calm.

Stated mandate

DFAU Seeks long-term capital appreciation. It uses an integrated research, portfolio-design, management, and trading process to build a broadly diversified portfolio of U.S. companies while balancing long-term return drivers, risk, shorter-term considerations, and trading costs.

MSTB The Fund seeks long-term outperformance relative to the large-capitalization U.S. equity market.

Why people hold it

• DFAU Charges 0.12% a year, well under the 0.65% median for active US equity funds and the cheapest of the top-graded names in its group (AVLC, DFAC, FELC).
• Holds roughly 2,400 US companies, so no single name steers the fund. Whole-market coverage, not a concentrated bet.
• Active without the stock-picking drama: it leans weights toward value, profitability and momentum, using the Russell 3000 as its reference point rather than a rigid rulebook.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its active US equity peer group.

• MSTB Baseline exposure is roughly 100% of the S&P 500, adjusted daily and generally held between about 80% and 120% based on a statistical read of the VIX.sec.govlhafunds.com
• The hedge is tactical, not permanent: long VIX futures go on when stress signals appear in the VIX market and can come off in calm stretches.lhafunds.comsec.gov
• Live since 2020, so the overlay has traded through real volatility spikes, and the long leg is plain S&P 500 exposure via an index ETF or futures.lhafunds.com

Worth knowing

• DFAU Those tilts cut both ways: results can drift from a plain Russell 3000 fund for long stretches, in either direction.
• No published index behind it. The trade-off for flexibility is that you're buying Dimensional's process, not a public set of rules you can check line by line.
• Distributions land quarterly, not monthly, and the mandate is long-term capital appreciation rather than income.

• MSTB At 1.38%, the fee sits above the category median and far above plain large-cap peers such as DFAU at 0.12% and AVLC at 0.15%.
• Long VIX futures cost money in calm markets, and a drop that arrives without a volatility-curve warning can land before the hedge is engaged.sec.gov
• A smaller, thinly traded fund, so spreads can run wider than in the category's heavily traded names.

Full DFAU profile⁠

Full MSTB profile⁠