DFAU vs STRN

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

STRNCSMART Trend 25 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.

STRN A retirement advisor's momentum model, boxed into an ETF: 25 U.S. large caps ranked on the prior four quarters of price trend, benchmarked against the S&P 500. Concentrated by design, not by accident.

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.

STRN The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

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.

• STRN The process is legible: narrow the universe to a top half, keep the top quarter on trailing four-quarter price momentum and trend, then hold 25 U.S.-listed large caps.sec.gov
• At 0.59% a year it runs below the typical active U.S. equity fund (0.65% median) despite a hands-on, quant-ranked portfolio.
• Packages large-cap models the firm built for advisory clients into an exchange-listed wrapper, opened to smaller accounts.natlawreview.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.

• STRN Non-diversified with about 25 names, so a single top holding swings the fund far more than it would inside a broad index.sec.gov
• Ranking on recent price trend means it leans into what has already been working and swaps names as market leadership rotates. Turnover comes with the design.sec.gov
• A 2025 launch with a small asset base and thin trading: spreads can widen, and the live record is still short.

Full DFAU profile⁠

Full STRN profile⁠