GWX vs SCHC

GWXAState Street SPDR S&P International Small Cap ETF

SCHCASchwab International Small-Cap Equity ETF

In short

GWX A 2007-vintage way to own the small stuff overseas: about 2,100 developed-market companies, filtered by a hard USD 2 billion size ceiling written right into the index name.

SCHC The bargain end of international small caps: Schwab charges 0.06% where the typical fund in this group sits near 0.40%. Roughly 2,200 stocks from developed markets outside the US, with Canada and South Korea in the mix.

Stated mandate

GWX The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return performance of the S&P Developed Ex-U.S. Under USD2 Billion Index.

SCHC The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the FTSE Developed Small Cap ex US Liquid Index.

Why people hold it

• GWX The size cut is absolute, not relative: developed ex-US companies under USD 2 billion, so the portfolio stays in genuinely small territory instead of drifting up with the market.ssga.com
• About 2,100 holdings spread across developed markets outside the US, so no single company or country carries the fund.
• Trading since 2007, it has one of the longer track records in international small caps, spanning the 2008 crash and everything since.
• A plain index tracker with no style drift: what it holds lines up with the mandate it advertises, and it sits in the upper half of its peer group.

• SCHC 0.06% a year, against a peer-group median near 0.40%. In a corner of the market where fees usually run high, that gap is most of the pitch.schwabassetmanagement.com
• About 2,200 holdings across developed markets outside the US. Broad enough that it behaves like the asset class rather than a concentrated bet.
• Counts Canada and South Korea as developed markets, covering ground that EAFE-built rivals such as SCZ leave out by design.schwabassetmanagement.comishares.com
• Trading since 2010 and has tracked its FTSE developed small-cap benchmark tightly, one of the cleaner index implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• GWX The 0.40% fee sits right at the category median, but broad rivals like VSS and SCHC charge a fraction of that.
• Small foreign companies are a bumpy corner of the market, and the mandate says nothing about hedging, so the dollar moves your returns too.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume leader in its category, which can mean wider spreads than the busiest funds in the group.

• SCHC Foreign small caps swing harder than large caps, and holdings are priced in local currencies, so exchange-rate moves feed straight into results.
• Developed markets only. Emerging-market small caps sit outside the mandate, which is where wider ex-US peers like VSS reach further.
• Moderately traded rather than a top-of-tape name, and distributions land once or twice a year instead of quarterly.

Full GWX profile⁠

Full SCHC profile⁠