EDV vs TLT

EDVAVanguard Extended Duration Treasury ETF

TLTBiShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

In short

EDV Zero-coupon Treasury STRIPS maturing in 20 to 30 years: the most rate-sensitive corner of the government bond market, in a five-basis-point Vanguard wrapper. Pure duration, nothing else.

TLT The long bond's most famous ticker. iShares launched TLT in 2002, and it became the default way to take a view on 20-year-plus Treasuries: index-tracked, heavily traded, with a deep listed options market.

Stated mandate

EDV The fund passively tracks an index of extended-duration, zero-coupon U.S. Treasury securities, specifically Treasury STRIPS with maturities from 20 to 30 years.

TLT The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. Treasury bonds with remaining maturities greater than twenty years, providing targeted exposure to long-duration government debt.

Why people hold it

• EDV At 0.05%, it undercuts the typical long-Treasury ETF (cohort median 0.15%) and charges a third of what TLT does.
• STRIPS have their coupons removed, so the roughly 80 holdings are pure principal claims dated 20 to 30 years out. Rate sensitivity runs beyond standard 20+ year Treasury funds.vanguard.com
• Vanguard has run it since 2007, it tracks its Bloomberg STRIPS index closely, and it sits among the top-rated names in its long-Treasury peer group.

• TLT Pure long-duration Treasuries: it tracks the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index, government debt maturing in 20 years or more, no corporate credit, no short-end dilution.ishares.com
• One of the most actively traded bond ETFs, with a deep listed options market around it, so positions and hedges can be built and unwound on-screen.marketchameleon.com
• Running since 2002 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, paying distributions monthly.

Worth knowing

• EDV Vanguard's own fact sheet warns that interest rate risk is expected to be extremely high and that rising rates may cause the fund's value to decline significantly.vanguard.com
• Vanguard describes the fund as primarily intended for pension plans and other institutions matching long-term liabilities.vanguard.com
• The STRIPS pay no coupons. Income accrues as the discount pulls toward par, and the fund passes that along to shareholders.vanguard.com

• TLT You pay for that liquidity: 0.15% a year, while BBLB tracks the very same index for 0.04% and VGLT charges 0.03% for long Treasuries.
• Long duration cuts both ways. Bonds this far out the curve move sharply when long-term yields shift, so the ride is far more volatile than a short-term Treasury fund.ishares.com
• Concentrated by design: roughly 50 Treasury bonds clustered at the long end, and the monthly payout floats with the coupons of whatever the index holds.

Full EDV profile⁠

Full TLT profile⁠