IXC vs VDE

IXCBiShares Global Energy ETF

VDEAVanguard Energy ETF

In short

IXC Most energy ETFs stop at the US border. IXC owns the global oil and gas complex instead, roughly 50 producers and distributors worldwide, and it has been doing that job since 2001.

VDE Energy without the mega-cap tunnel vision. VDE tracks an index of roughly 110 US energy stocks, large down to small cap, for 0.09% a year, and it has been running since 2004.

Stated mandate

IXC The fund seeks to track an index of global energy-sector equities, offering exposure to companies involved in producing and distributing oil and gas.

VDE The fund seeks to track the MSCI US Investable Market Energy 25/50 Index, which represents large-, mid-, and small-cap U.S. energy-sector stocks.

Why people hold it

• IXC Global by mandate, not by accident: the index covers energy companies producing and distributing oil and gas worldwide, so the portfolio is not fenced into the US market.ishares.com
• The benchmark is a capped version of the S&P Global 1200 Energy index, which limits how much any single supermajor can dominate the basket.ishares.com
• 0.37% a year, right at the median fee for its energy cohort, on a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively.
• Launched in 2001, so it has traded through multiple full oil cycles, and it sits in the upper half of its energy peer group.

• VDE Costs 0.09% a year, a fraction of what the typical energy sector fund charges.
• Casts a wider net than mega-cap-only energy funds: about 110 large-, mid- and small-cap US names, from the integrated majors to shale drillers and refiners.vanguard.com
• Hugs its benchmark closely and trades actively, which tends to keep spreads slim for everyday buys and sells.
• Live since 2004 and one of the strongest builds in the broad energy group, with a Vanguard fee structure that has only ratcheted downward.

Worth knowing

• IXC One sector, about 50 stocks. This tracks the fortunes of oil and gas, and there is nowhere inside the fund to hide when those prices turn.
• Not the cheap seat in the cohort: peer PBOG charges 0.13% for a narrower integrated and E&P mandate.
• Distributions come on an annual or semiannual schedule, so any income arrives in lumps rather than a monthly drip.

• VDE One sector, one storyline: this rides crude and natural gas prices, and it swings harder in both directions than a total-market fund.
• Cap-weighted, so a handful of US oil majors carry outsized weight despite the long holdings list; the index's 25/50 rules limit that concentration rather than erase it.vanguard.com
• Income arrives quarterly, not monthly, and moves with what energy companies choose to pay out.

Full IXC profile⁠

Full VDE profile⁠