METL vs VAW

METLFSprott Active Metals & Miners ETF

VAWBVanguard Materials ETF

In short

METL Sprott's stock-picking answer to a sector ruled by cheap index trackers: about 40 global metals and mining names chosen by a manager, in a plain ETF wrapper. Active conviction, active price tag.

VAW Vanguard's materials aisle in one ticker: chemicals, packaging and metals, roughly 120 names deep, for 0.09% a year while the category norm sits several times higher.

Stated mandate

METL The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

VAW The fund seeks to track a materials-sector equity benchmark through passive indexing and normally invests at least 80% of assets in the benchmark's stocks.

Why people hold it

• METL A concentrated book of roughly 40 global metals and miners, picked by a manager rather than inherited from a broad materials index.
• The mandate is global, so the manager can own miners listed outside the US, unlike domestic-only materials funds such as IYM.
• Ordinary plumbing: a 1940 Act fund holding stocks, not futures or partnerships. That means 1099 reporting and no K-1 at tax time.

• VAW Charges 0.09% a year, several times below the median for broad materials funds. Cheap enough that cost stops being the argument.
• Holds about 120 stocks from MSCI's US Investable Market materials index, so it reaches down the cap ladder instead of stopping at the biggest names.
• Plain passive indexing, at least 80% in benchmark stocks, and it has tracked that benchmark closely. One of the stronger builds in the materials group.
• Trading since 2004 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, run by Vanguard's index desk. Distributions arrive quarterly.

Worth knowing

• METL 0.99% a year buys the stock picking. The category's index options (XLB, VAW, FMAT) charge under 0.10%, so the manager starts each year well behind them.
• Launched in 2025, so there is no full mining cycle on the record yet to judge the manager's calls against.
• Trades lightly next to the category's heavyweights, which tends to mean wider spreads. Distributions land once or twice a year, not monthly.

• VAW One sector, and a cyclical one. Chemicals, miners and packagers ride construction and industrial demand, so swings run wider than a total-market fund.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume monster, so spreads can widen in fast markets.
• XLB and FMAT sit a basis point lower at 0.08%. A rounding error, but it exists.

Full METL profile⁠

Full VAW profile⁠