SPTM vs VTI

SPTMAState Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 1500 Composite Stock Market ETF

VTIAVanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF

In short

SPTM One ticker for the whole US market ladder: about 1,500 large, mid and small caps from S&P's composite index at 3 basis points. Running since 2000, at half the fee of the typical total-market rival.

VTI The whole US stock market in one ticker: roughly 3,600 names, from mega caps down to micro caps, for three basis points. Vanguard has run this portfolio in ETF form since 2001, and it's grown into one of the largest funds anywhere.

Stated mandate

SPTM The fund seeks to provide investment results that generally correspond to the total return of the S&P Composite 1500 Index, offering broad U.S. equity exposure across market capitalizations.

VTI The fund aims to replicate the performance of a benchmark index that covers the entire U.S. stock market.

Why people hold it

• SPTM 0.03% a year, half the 0.06% median for total-market rivals. In a category where cost is most of the argument, it sits in the cheap tier.
• One job, done plainly: large, mid and small cap US stocks in a single wrapper, about 1,500 names, no sector bets or style tilts, and it has tracked its index closely.
• Launched in 2000, so it has traded through the dot-com bust, 2008 and 2020. A multi-billion-dollar fund that changes hands actively every day.
• Stands in the upper half of its total-market peer group next to VTI, SCHB and ITOT, and matches ITOT's declared index at the same 0.03% fee.

• VTI Costs 0.03% a year, half the 0.06% typical for its total-market peers.
• About 3,600 holdings, so the small and micro caps an S&P 500 fund leaves out are already in the mix.investor.vanguard.com
• Tracks its total-market benchmark very closely and trades heavily, and it sits among the strongest implementations in its peer group.
• The ETF is a share class of Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index Fund, sharing one portfolio with the mutual fund rather than running a separate copy.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• SPTM Liquidity is solid rather than category-leading. The largest total-market funds trade heavier, so spreads here can run a little wider on big or hurried orders.
• US only. International stocks sit outside the mandate, so global exposure has to come from somewhere else in the portfolio.
• Owning the whole US market means owning its drawdowns: no buffer, no hedge, no cash cushion. Cash comes back as a quarterly distribution.

• VTI Market-cap weighted, so the biggest US companies drive the result and the thousands of small names at the bottom carry little weight.personal.vanguard.com
• All US, by design. Nothing outside the country comes with it.
• ITOT and SCHB match the 0.03% fee and BBUS runs 0.02%, so rivals deliver similar whole-market exposure for the same or less.

Full SPTM profile⁠

Full VTI profile⁠