HFXI vs IDEV

HFXICNYLI FTSE International Equity Currency Neutral ETF

IDEVAiShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF

In short

HFXI Can't decide whether to hedge your overseas currency exposure? HFXI declines to pick a side: it tracks a FTSE index that hedges about half the developed ex-North-America currency exposure back to dollars, reset monthly, for 0.20%.

IDEV One ticker for the developed world outside America, top to bottom: roughly 2,300 large, mid and small caps for four basis points. iShares built this as a Core building block and priced it like one.

Stated mandate

HFXI The Fund passively seeks to track the performance of the FTSE Developed ex North America 50% Hedged to USD Index before fees and expenses. The index represents developed-market international equities with partial currency hedging against the U.S. dollar.

IDEV The fund seeks to track an index of large-, mid-, and small-cap equities from developed markets outside the United States.

Why people hold it

• HFXI The half-hedge is the whole idea: the index applies a one-month forward rate to about half its non-dollar holdings, so dollar swings land at roughly half strength either way.sec.gov
• Broad under the hood: about 800 developed-market stocks from outside the US and Canada, held in a plain 1940 Act index wrapper that tracks its benchmark rather than picking names.
• Not a new experiment. Running since 2015, now a multi-billion-dollar fund that pays quarterly.

• IDEV Charges 0.04% a year while the typical developed-markets core fund charges 0.18%. That is roughly a fifth of the usual freight.
• Goes all-cap, not just blue chips: roughly 2,300 large, mid and small companies from developed markets outside the US, so the small end is not left on the cutting room floor.ishares.com
• A plain index wrapper on the MSCI World ex USA IMI Index. No tilts, no manager discretion, and it has run that same mandate since 2017.
• Multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the stronger implementations in a crowded developed-markets core group.

Worth knowing

• HFXI At 0.20% it sits above the category's typical fee, and well above unhedged core rivals like VEA and SPDW at 0.03% or IDEV at 0.04%. Currency machinery is not free.
• Half a hedge cuts both ways: when the dollar weakens, an unhedged fund captures all of that currency tailwind while HFXI captures about half.sec.gov
• It trades moderately, not like the category's household-name giants, so spreads and order size matter more here.

• IDEV VEA, SPDW and SCHF each run a basis point cheaper. Pennies on most balances, but IDEV is not the absolute cost floor of the group.
• Distributions come annually or semiannually rather than monthly, so cash arrives in lumps.
• Every holding is priced in a foreign currency, so moves in the dollar show up in your returns alongside the stocks themselves.

Full HFXI profile⁠

Full IDEV profile⁠