TSES vs VDE

TSESCTruth Social American Energy Security ETF

VDEAVanguard Energy ETF

In short

TSES A US energy fund with a media brand stamped on the ticker. Under the branding it is ordinary machinery: TSES tracks the MarketVector American Energy Security Index, so the holdings follow a published rulebook, not a headline.

VDE Energy without the mega-cap tunnel vision. VDE tracks an index of roughly 110 US energy stocks, large down to small cap, for 0.09% a year, and it has been running since 2004.

Stated mandate

TSES The Fund seeks investment results that generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the MarketVectorTM American Energy Security Index, before fees and expenses.

VDE The fund seeks to track the MSCI US Investable Market Energy 25/50 Index, which represents large-, mid-, and small-cap U.S. energy-sector stocks.

Why people hold it

• TSES Rules-based, not a hunch. The fund aims to track the price and yield of the MarketVector American Energy Security Index before fees, so a published methodology decides what it owns.
• Plain wrapper, plain mandate: US-listed energy stocks in a standard 1940 Act ETF. No leverage story, no derivatives overlay to decode.
• Distributions are paid on a quarterly schedule, the usual cadence for equity sector funds.

• VDE Costs 0.09% a year, a fraction of what the typical energy sector fund charges.
• Casts a wider net than mega-cap-only energy funds: about 110 large-, mid- and small-cap US names, from the integrated majors to shale drillers and refiners.vanguard.com
• Hugs its benchmark closely and trades actively, which tends to keep spreads slim for everyday buys and sells.
• Live since 2004 and one of the strongest builds in the broad energy group, with a Vanguard fee structure that has only ratcheted downward.

Worth knowing

• TSES You pay up for the packaging. The 0.65% expense ratio sits above the broad-energy median of 0.45%, and index giants like XLE and FENY charge 0.08%, VDE 0.09%.
• A December 2025 launch means a short track record, and trading has been light so far. Spreads and order type matter more here than with the category's household names.
• On the measures we track, the entrenched low-cost broad-energy funds still set the bar in this peer group, and TSES lands in its lower half.

• VDE One sector, one storyline: this rides crude and natural gas prices, and it swings harder in both directions than a total-market fund.
• Cap-weighted, so a handful of US oil majors carry outsized weight despite the long holdings list; the index's 25/50 rules limit that concentration rather than erase it.vanguard.com
• Income arrives quarterly, not monthly, and moves with what energy companies choose to pay out.

Full TSES profile⁠

Full VDE profile⁠