SCHA vs SMMD

SCHAASchwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF

SMMDAiShares Russell 2500 ETF

In short

SCHA Schwab's small-cap workhorse: three basis points, roughly 1,700 companies, and a mandate to hold the slice of the US market that sits below the large and mid caps. Running since 2009.

SMMD Most small-cap funds stop at the Russell 2000. SMMD keeps going, tracking the Russell 2500: that index plus the 500 smallest mid-caps from the Russell 1000. The whole small-to-mid band in one ticker.

Stated mandate

SCHA The fund seeks to closely track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index. It generally invests in that index’s small-cap stocks and normally places at least 90% of net assets in them.

SMMD The fund tracks the Russell 2500 Index, an index representing small- to mid-capitalization U.S. equities.

Why people hold it

• SCHA At 0.03% a year, it is tied for the cheapest fund in its small-cap peer group and a fraction of the 0.25% category median. The fee is the one variable you know in advance.
• Roughly 1,700 stocks, weighted by size. That is the whole small-cap tail rather than a curated shortlist, and no single name gets to steer the portfolio.
• The contract is plain: at least 90% of net assets in the Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index, and it has tracked that benchmark closely.
• Sixteen years old, multi-billion-dollar, actively traded, and pays quarterly. One of the sturdier implementations among the broad small-cap index funds we cover.

• SMMD The Russell 2500 is the Russell 2000 plus the 500 smallest mid-caps from the Russell 1000, so you get the small-to-mid handoff without stitching two funds together.lseg.com
• Plain index beta: cap-weighted, reconstituted annually by FTSE Russell, no screens or factor tilts. One mandate since the 2017 launch, and what it holds matches what it says.lseg.com
• 0.15% net of a waiver through July 31, 2027 (0.23% gross), which sits near the category median rather than at the premium end.
• A multi-billion-dollar iShares fund that pays quarterly, so this is a long-standing shelf product rather than a thin niche launch.

Worth knowing

• SCHA Small caps move harder than large caps in both directions. This fund takes the full ride with no hedge, buffer, or volatility damper in the design.
• The index sorts by size, not quality. Unprofitable and lightly covered companies come along with everything else, since no earnings screen sits in front of the portfolio.
• It follows a Dow Jones small-cap index, not the Russell 2000 that IWM and VTWO track, so its returns and headlines about that benchmark will not line up exactly.

• SMMD Cost is the trade-off: the cheapest small-cap index peers charge far less (SCHA and VB at 0.03%), and the fee steps up toward 0.23% if the waiver lapses after July 31, 2027.
• Not a pure small-cap sleeve. Those 500 mid-caps overlap with any mid-cap fund you already own, so the two can double up.lseg.com
• Moderately traded rather than one of the category's volume giants, which can show up as wider spreads on larger orders.

Full SCHA profile⁠

Full SMMD profile⁠