PICK vs VAW

PICKCiShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF

VAWBVanguard Materials ETF

In short

PICK The miners fund that deliberately leaves out the gold. PICK tracks an index of roughly 300 global metals and mining producers with gold and silver names screened out, for 0.39% a year.

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

PICK The fund seeks to track an index of global companies primarily engaged in mining, extracting, or producing diversified metals and industrial materials, while excluding gold and silver.

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

• PICK Costs 0.39% a year against a 0.65% median in its critical-materials peer group, undercutting REMX, EART and SETM.
• The index rule is the whole point: diversified metals and industrial materials producers in, gold and silver out. A cleaner read on industrial demand than a mixed miners basket.ishares.com
• About 300 holdings across global markets, so no single mine, country or commodity carries the fund.
• Trading since 2012 and now a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund. One of the most established ways to own the group.

• 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

• PICK One sector, one cycle. Miner earnings ride metal prices, which means sharp moves in both directions.
• No gold or silver producers by design, so it doesn't double as a precious-metals sleeve.
• Distributions arrive annually or semiannually, not monthly, and a global book brings non-US currency exposure.

• 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 PICK profile⁠

Full VAW profile⁠