MGC vs USMC

MGCAVanguard Morningstar Mega Cap ETF

USMCBPrincipal U.S. Mega-Cap ETF

In short

MGC Mega cap without the guesswork. MGC owns roughly 190 of the largest US companies for 0.05% a year, a fraction of what most rivals in its aisle charge, and has run that way since 2007.

USMC Own the giants without letting the giants run the show. USMC follows a Nasdaq index that market-cap-weights only the very largest slice of US mega-caps, equal-weights the rest, and leans toward the calmer names, all for 0.12% a year.

Stated mandate

MGC The fund seeks to track the CRSP US Mega Cap Index and provide diversified exposure to the largest U.S. stocks through passive full replication.

USMC The Fund seeks investment results that closely correspond, before expenses, to the performance of the Nasdaq U.S. Mega Cap Select Leaders Index.

Why people hold it

• MGC 0.05% a year, against 0.20% at the two iShares mega-cap options (OEF, TOPT) and 0.47% at SIXA. Same neighborhood of stocks, much smaller toll.
• Roughly 190 names versus 100 in OEF and 20 in TOPT: the widest net in the mega-cap group, without wandering into mid or small caps.
• No engineering to decode. It buys the CRSP US Mega Cap Index outright, full replication, and has tracked that index about as tightly as an index fund can.
• Trading since 2007 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it sits among the strongest implementations in its mega-cap peer group.

• USMC Costs 0.12% a year, a fraction of the typical fee among active US equity funds and level with the cheapest strong names in that group, like DFAU.
• The rules do the work: cap-weight the top 10% of aggregate market value, equal-weight the rest, nudge weight toward lower-volatility deciles, reset each April and October.nasdaq.com
• Trading since 2017 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it ranks among the strongest overall builds in its US equity peer group.
• Distributions arrive quarterly, and the fund sees steady enough trading volume for ordinary retail-sized orders.

Worth knowing

• MGC Giants only, by design. No mid or small caps, so the mix leans wherever the biggest US companies happen to cluster.
• Moderately traded rather than one of the tape's busiest tickers, so spreads can run a touch wider than the largest broad-market funds.
• Distributions land quarterly, not monthly.

• USMC Concentrated by design: a few dozen mega-caps, so one company's stumble lands harder here than in a 500-stock index fund.
• By capping how much the biggest names dominate, it deliberately holds a different mix than a cap-weighted S&P fund, and its results diverge accordingly.nasdaq.com
• Weights reset only twice a year, in April and October, so drift between reviews comes with the strategy.nasdaq.com

Full MGC profile⁠

Full USMC profile⁠