EDV vs VGLT

EDVAVanguard Extended Duration Treasury ETF

VGLTAVanguard Long-Term Treasury 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.

VGLT Three basis points for the long end of the Treasury curve. VGLT tracks a market-weighted index of long-dated government bonds, pays income monthly, and charges a fraction of what this category typically costs.

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.

VGLT The fund seeks to track a market-weighted Treasury index with a long-term dollar-weighted average maturity. It uses index sampling and invests at least 80% of assets in securities included in the target index.

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.

• VGLT 0.03% a year, a fifth of TLT's 0.15% and the lowest fee among its long-Treasury peers.vanguard.com
• Sticks to the mandate: index sampling of the Bloomberg U.S. Long Treasury Bond Index, with at least 80% of assets in index securities and one of the tightest implementations in its group.vanguard.com
• Pure US Treasury paper, roughly 70 bonds, no corporate credit risk in the mix, with distributions paid monthly.vanguard.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, which generally keeps bid-ask spreads modest for a long-bond vehicle.

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

• VGLT Duration is the point and the risk. Long maturities mean prices swing hard when long-term yields move, in both directions.
• Not a 20-year-and-out pure play. The benchmark is the broad long Treasury index, so duration runs shorter than TLT or BBLB and shorter still than sibling EDV.
• Fixed coupons from a government issuer: no credit spread to earn, and inflation erodes the real value of that income.

Full EDV profile⁠

Full VGLT profile⁠