DFAU vs THEQ

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

THEQCT. Rowe Price Hedged Equity 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.

THEQ Most hedged equity funds hand you a fixed buffer and a cap that resets on a calendar. THEQ skips that rulebook: an analyst-picked US stock portfolio with a discretionary derivatives overlay aimed at softening drawdowns.

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.

THEQ The fund seeks long-term capital growth. It combines an actively managed equity portfolio with futures, forwards, swaps, and index options intended to reduce volatility and mitigate losses during equity-market drawdowns.

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.

• THEQ The hedge runs on judgment, not a calendar. Futures, forwards, swaps and index options are dialed up or down to damp volatility and cushion equity drawdowns, with no outcome-period resets.troweprice.com
• The stock sleeve isn't an index clone. Most of it sits in T. Rowe's analyst-driven US Equity Research ETF (TSPA), which targets S&P 500-like characteristics through bottom-up picks.troweprice.com
• One all-inclusive fee at the fund level covers investment management plus ordinary recurring operating expenses, so wrapper costs stay in a single number.troweprice.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.

• THEQ At 0.73%, it runs above the 0.65% median for active US equity ETFs and well above cheap active core peers like FELC (0.18%) and DFAU (0.12%).
• Young and thinly traded since its March 2025 debut, with a small asset base. Spreads can run wider than at long-established rivals.
• The overlay is a trade-off: hedges cost money in calm markets, there's no defined floor or promised protection level, and distributions arrive once or twice a year.troweprice.com

Full DFAU profile⁠

Full THEQ profile⁠