EWC vs FSZ

EWCAiShares MSCI Canada ETF

FSZCFirst Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund

In short

EWC A 1996 original: Canada's large and mid caps in one ticker, back when single-country funds were still a novelty. About 80 names, held through a capped MSCI index built so one giant can't swamp the basket.

FSZ A Switzerland fund that doesn't just mirror the Swiss market. FSZ runs Swiss stocks through First Trust's AlphaDEX growth-and-value rules and lands on about 40 names, so the screen shapes results as much as the country does.

Stated mandate

EWC The fund seeks to track an index representing Canadian equities, providing exposure to large- and mid-sized companies in Canada.

FSZ The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX® SwitzerlandTM Index. That index selects and weights Swiss securities from the Nasdaq SwitzerlandTM Index using AlphaDEX criteria.

Why people hold it

• EWC Running since 1996, which makes it one of the oldest US-listed ETFs still trading, and it is a multi-billion-dollar fund today.
• Tracks the MSCI Canada Custom Capped Index closely, one of the tighter index-following records in its single-country developed peer group.ishares.com
• Actively traded with among the easiest fills in its peer group, so the cost of getting in and out stays modest.
• The capped index trims outsized single-name weights, so roughly 80 holdings stay a basket rather than a wager on two or three giants.ishares.com

• FSZ AlphaDEX selects and weights Swiss stocks on growth and value rules, ending at about 40 names rather than a cap-weighted copy of the market.ftportfolios.com
• Live since 2012, so the screen has a long public record across real market cycles instead of a backtest.
• Plain mandate, no moving parts: one country, one published index, quarterly distributions, standard 1940 Act fund wrapper.

Worth knowing

• EWC At 0.50%, the fee sits right at the median for single-country developed funds, and cheaper Canada exposure exists: BBCA runs 0.19%.
• One country, about 80 stocks: a concentrated slice of the world, with Canadian dollar moves riding along in your US-dollar return.ishares.com
• Distributions land once or twice a year rather than monthly or quarterly, so income arrives in lumps.

• FSZ At 0.80% a year, this sits at the expensive end of single-country developed funds; cohort peers such as FLKR and FLAU charge a small fraction of that.
• A small asset base and thin trading mean spreads can be wide, so order size and timing matter more here than in a mainstream country fund.
• About 40 screened names can drift a long way from the broad Swiss market, in either direction.

Full EWC profile⁠

Full FSZ profile⁠