SCHM vs SMCP

SCHMASchwab U.S. Mid-Cap ETF

SMCPFSMART Mid Cap ETF

In short

SCHM The forgotten middle of the US market, for three basis points. SCHM has tracked the Dow Jones U.S. Mid-Cap Total Stock Market Index since 2011, holding roughly 500 companies at a fee nobody in the category undercuts.

SMCP Nearly every big mid-cap ETF is an index clone. SMCP is the hand-picked alternative: actively managed, tracking no benchmark, charging 0.79% with no fee waiver in place, and carrying a record that only starts in 2026.

Stated mandate

SCHM The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Mid-Cap Total Stock Market Index.

SMCP The Fund is actively managed and invests primarily in equity securities of U.S.-domiciled, mid-capitalization companies.

Why people hold it

• SCHM 0.03% a year, 30 cents per $100. That ties VO for the lowest fee in the mid-cap group and runs well below the category's typical charge.schwabassetmanagement.com
• Pure index plumbing: no stock picking, no tilts. The fund has tracked its benchmark closely, which is the whole job description here.
• Roughly 500 mid-sized US companies, so no single name carries the fund. Broad enough to be a one-ticket middle slice.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund trading since 2011 and among the stronger builds in its peer group, with active daily volume and tight handling.

• SMCP Genuinely active: a sub-adviser picks the names instead of copying a mid-cap index, so the portfolio can look nothing like the category's benchmark clones.sec.gov
• What you pay is what you pay. Gross and net both sit at 0.79%, with no waiver in place to expire and reset the cost later.
• Ordinary 1940 Act ETF plumbing holding exchange-listed stocks: same wrapper as the index giants, different engine inside.sec.gov
• Its international names must be listed on a US exchange, so you get some non-US exposure without the overseas listings.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• SCHM Mid-caps swing harder than blue chips. This is full, undampened exposure to that middle tier, with nothing built in to soften rough stretches.
• Every provider draws the mid-cap line differently. The Dow Jones index here won't hold the same names as a Russell or Morningstar mid-cap fund, so overlap with what you own varies.
• Distributions land quarterly, and they're a byproduct of the index, not the point. This is a growth-of-capital vehicle, not an income one.

• SMCP At 0.79% it runs above the mid-cap category's typical fee, and the big index options are far cheaper: SCHM and VO at 0.03%, IMCB and BKMC at 0.04%, IWR at 0.18%.
• Modest assets and light trading mean spreads can be wider than in the category's heavily traded index funds.
• It opened in 2026 with no distribution history behind it, so there is little data yet on how the manager's picks behave across different markets.

Full SCHM profile⁠

Full SMCP profile⁠