SCHR vs TUA

SCHRASchwab Intermediate-Term U.S. Treasury ETF

TUACSimplify Short Term Treasury Futures Strategy ETF

In short

SCHR The belly of the Treasury curve for three basis points. Since 2010, SCHR has tracked the Bloomberg US Treasury 3-10 Year Index: government paper only, no corporate credit, income paid monthly.

TUA Most intermediate Treasury ETFs just buy the bonds. TUA rents the exposure instead: short-term Treasury futures sized to match the duration of the 7-10 year Treasury index, with a calendar-quarter bar written into the mandate.

Stated mandate

SCHR The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of an index measuring the intermediate-term U.S. Treasury bond market.

TUA The Fund seeks calendar-quarter total return that matches or exceeds the ICE US Treasury 7-10 Year Bond Index, using Treasury futures to target that index’s duration.

Why people hold it

• SCHR Charges 0.03% a year, a fraction of the 0.15% median for intermediate Treasury funds. In a corner of the market where yields do the heavy lifting, fee drag matters.
• Does exactly what the label says: about 100 US Treasury notes, tracking the Bloomberg US Treasury 3-10 Year Index with very tight fidelity. No credit sleeve, no derivatives detour.schwabassetmanagement.com
• Pays monthly, and it is an actively traded, multi-billion-dollar fund, which puts it among the more established options in the 3-10 year Treasury aisle.
• One of the strongest implementations in its peer group, matching SPTI at the bottom of the fee table and undercutting BBIB and the BondBloxx target-duration funds.

• TUA Unusually specific mandate: match or beat the ICE US Treasury 7-10 Year Bond Index each calendar quarter, using Treasury futures to hit that index's duration.simplify.us
• It stays on the job. The portfolio hews closely to the duration target in its prospectus rather than wandering into credit or off-mandate bond bets.
• A conventional 1940 Act fund that distributes monthly, so shareholders get a 1099 rather than the K-1 some futures vehicles generate.

Worth knowing

• SCHR Intermediate maturities carry real rate sensitivity. When yields rise, prices on 3-10 year Treasuries fall, and this fund holds the full move.
• Treasuries only. You get no credit spread from corporate or mortgage bonds, which is the point for some investors and a limit for others.schwabassetmanagement.com
• SPTI runs the same 0.03% fee on the same slice of the curve, so the choice often comes down to brokerage plumbing rather than the funds themselves.

• TUA 0.25% a year is above the median for intermediate Treasury funds, and above IEF, which tracks the very same index for 0.15%.
• Futures-driven duration moves more sharply than the plain bond-owning funds in this group; TUA sits at the higher-volatility end of the cohort.
• The quarterly benchmark is a target, not a promise. Futures pricing and collateral income can pull results away from the index in either direction.

Full SCHR profile⁠

Full TUA profile⁠