MGOV vs VTG: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

First Trust Intermediate Government Opportunities ETF

MGOVCNYSE Arca

Vanguard Total Treasury ETF

VTGANYSE Arca

Overlap

No data

Expense ratio

VTG −0.47pt a year

MGOV0.50%VTG0.03%

Avg volume · 30D

VTG 1.9×the volume

MGOV25.6KVTG48.1K

MGOV vs VTG Performance

Oct 31, 2025 – Oct 30, 2026

−0.6%MGOV−0.3%VTG

Expense ratio: MGOV 0.50%; VTG 0.03%, better
Fund size: MGOV $94M; VTG $228M
1Y total return: MGOV −0.6%; VTG −0.3%, better
Yield (12M): MGOV 4.82%, better; VTG 3.76%
Holdings: MGOV 151; VTG 289
Avg volume (30D): MGOV 25.6K sh; VTG 48.1K sh, better
NAV per share: MGOV $19.58; VTG $73.68
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for MGOV, VTG, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	MGOV	VTG
Cost30% weight	F17	A97Higher
Mission25% weight	A83	A96Higher
Risk15% weight	C44Higher	C40
Tradability15% weight	F16	D39Higher
Holdings10% weight	C53	A77Higher
Durability5% weight	C44	C54Higher

Rank among US Treasury & Government funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. MGOV and VTG are both graded against the same 16 US Treasury & Government funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

US Treasury & Government⁠

Category · 16 funds

See all 16 ›

VTG ranks 3rd and MGOV 10th of 16 funds in the US Treasury & Government Category.

Rank 1AGOVTiShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETFScore 79
Rank 2ASPTBState Street SPDR Portfolio Treasury ETFScore 78
Rank 3AVTGVanguard Total Treasury ETFScore 75
Rank 4BFLGVFranklin U.S. Treasury Bond ETFScore 67
Rank 9CJMMFJPMorgan 100% U.S. Treasury Securities Money Market ETFScore 53
Rank 10CMGOVFirst Trust Intermediate Government Opportunities ETFScore 42
Rank 11CLGOVFirst Trust Long Duration Opportunities ETFScore 40

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

MGOVCFirst Trust Intermediate Government Opportunities ETF

VTGAVanguard Total Treasury ETF

In short

MGOV Active management in a corner of the market built on index trackers. First Trust's team roams Treasuries, agency and mortgage-related debt instead of following one benchmark, and pays out monthly.

VTG One ticker for the whole Treasury curve. Vanguard's 2025 answer to the do-it-yourself stack of short, intermediate and long Treasury funds: a single index fund covering the market at three basis points.

Stated mandate

MGOV The Fund seeks to maximize long-term total return by investing primarily in U.S. government, agency, government-sponsored-entity, Treasury, and mortgage-related debt securities. It may also use ETFs and derivatives tied to Government Securities.

VTG The fund aims to track the performance of an index representing the broad U.S. Treasury bond market.

Why people hold it

MGOV Genuinely active mandate: Treasuries, agency and government-sponsored-entity debt, and mortgage-related bonds, plus ETFs and derivatives tied to government securities.
Pays monthly, so income lands on a steady schedule instead of quarterly.
Credit stays in government and agency territory. The manager's levers are interest-rate positioning and mortgage exposure, not reaching down into junk.
Spread across roughly a hundred-plus bond positions rather than a handful of concentrated bets.

VTG Costs 0.03% a year, about a quarter of the typical fee in its Treasury peer group, and it lands in the top tier of that cohort on build quality.
Does the job of a three-fund short/intermediate/long stack in one holding, tracking the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Total Return Unhedged USD Index across maturities.vanguard.com
Plain Treasuries only: no credit sleeve, no currency hedge, no active tilts, with income paid out monthly.

Worth knowing

MGOV At 0.50% a year, it costs well above index government-bond peers like VGIT and SCHP, which run at a few basis points. The active call is what you're paying for.
Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so bid-ask spreads and order size are worth a look.
Launched in 2023, so the record is short compared with government-bond funds that have been running for decades.

VTG Whole-curve exposure means long maturities are in the mix, so the share price moves with interest rates more than a short-term Treasury fund would.vanguard.com
A July 2025 launch, so it is still a small fund that trades lightly next to decade-old Treasury ETFs. Wider bid-ask spreads are the trade-off.
The index begins at one year to maturity, so T-bills and cash-like exposure sit outside it. Vanguard parks that end of the curve in separate funds such as VGUS.stockanalysis.com

Full MGOV profile⁠

Full VTG profile⁠

MGOV vs VTG Holdings

How MGOV and VTG differ

No overlap figure

Two bond funds rarely hold the same issues.

Level by level

Asset classFixed Income100%
Countryby domicile100%

Sector

No Sector split for MGOV and VTG.

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in MGOV and VTG, widest gap first
Country	More in MGOVMore in VTG	MGOV	VTG
United States	Same weight	100.0%	100.0%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

MGOV45.1%
VTG8.6%

Securities held

MGOV150
VTG286

Asset class

MGOV: Fixed Income
VTG: Fixed Income

Holdings

Two bond funds rarely hold the same issues, so this page lists no shared Holdings. MGOV holds 150 securities, VTG 286.

All 200 MGOV holdings⁠All VTG holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

MGOV vs VTG Cost

Overpaying MGOV vs VTG

$9,341

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

MGOV 0.50%
$9,979
VTG 0.03%
$638

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

MGOV 0.50%
VTG 0.03%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	MGOV	VTG	Overpaying
10	$900	$55	$845
20	$3,460	$216	$3,244
30	$9,979	$638	$9,341

Expense ratio

0.50%MGOV
0.03%VTG, cheaper

VTG0.03%MGOV0.50%

0.03%1.04%

Middle half of US Treasury & Government funds
Median 0.15%

VTG cheapest of 16 funds

MGOV 14th cheapest of 16 funds

MGOV vs VTG Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): MGOV 4.82%, better; VTG 3.76%
Payout (12M): MGOV $0.94; VTG $2.77
Last payment: MGOV $0.07; VTG $0.25
Ex-dividend: MGOV Oct 21, 2026; VTG Oct 1, 2026
Paid on: MGOV Oct 30, 2026; VTG Oct 5, 2026
Frequency: MGOV Monthly; VTG Monthly

Distribution history

Per share, 2023 to 2026, same scale for both

MGOVMonthly · 38 paymentsAll MGOV payments⁠

VTGMonthly · 15 paymentsAll VTG payments⁠

MGOV vs VTG Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: MGOV 6.6%VTG 4.2%since Aug 2025
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: MGOV 0.24VTG −0.46since Aug 2025
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: MGOV −6.3%since Aug 2023VTG −4.5%since Jul 2025
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: MGOV 0.26VTG 0.06; Market = 1

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