SCHR vs TYA

SCHRASchwab Intermediate-Term U.S. Treasury ETF

TYADSimplify Intermediate 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.

TYA Most intermediate Treasury funds own intermediate Treasuries. TYA stacks intermediate-curve Treasury futures to target the duration of the ICE 20+ Year US Treasury Index, sourcing long-end rate exposure from the belly of the curve.

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.

TYA The fund seeks quarterly total returns that match or exceed the ICE US Treasury 20+ Year Index before fees and expenses. It uses intermediate-curve Treasury futures to target the duration of that long-term Treasury index.

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.

• TYA Unusual mandate: it aims for quarterly total returns matching or beating the ICE 20+ Year US Treasury Index before fees, built from intermediate Treasury futures rather than 30-year bonds.simplify.us
• Nothing else in its intermediate Treasury cohort works this way. Peers like SPTI and SCHR simply hold the 3-10 year part of the curve.
• Duration is delivered through futures, not a pile of cash long bonds, and the fund distributes monthly.
• Live since 2021, so there is a multi-year record of the strategy running in real markets rather than a backtest.

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.

• TYA It charges 0.25%, above the cohort median near 0.15% and many times the plain trackers: SPTI and SCHR run 0.03%.
• Intermediate label, long-end sensitivity. Targeting a 20+ year index's duration means rate moves hit the price much harder than in a straight 3-10 year Treasury fund.
• Futures rolls, margin and collateral add moving parts a cash bond fund does not have, and as a moderately traded fund its spreads can run wider than the cohort's giants.

Full SCHR profile⁠

Full TYA profile⁠