Dimensional U.S. Equity Market ETF

Dimensional U.S. Equity Market ETF (DFUS) is an actively managed fund that owns U.S. stocks of all sizes. It weights them mostly by company size and measures itself against the Russell 3000 Index. Unlike a plain total-market index fund, it may lean slightly toward smaller, cheaper and more profitable companies, and it is run to keep taxable capital gains low. Its yearly fee (expense ratio) of 0.09% is above the 0.03% charged by IVV and VOO.

• Over the year to Nov 2, 2026, DFUS returned +11.7%, 7th of 9 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +11.4%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-18.4%); its best was 2023 (+26.3%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 24.6% (Jan 3, 2022 to Sep 30, 2022), recovered by Dec 13, 2023.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 2,239 securities; the ten largest made up 34.64% of assets.

By sector

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $188.2M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +5.26%, -0.24%, -0.55%.

DFUS is an actively managed ETF. It does not copy an index, though it measures itself against the Russell 3000 Index. Dimensional Fund Advisors buys a broad range of U.S. companies of every size and weights them mostly by market capitalization (share price times shares outstanding), so the largest companies get the largest slices. As of July 31, 2026, it held 2,239 holdings. The 10 biggest made up 34.6% of assets, led by NVIDIA (6.7%), Apple (6.4%), Microsoft (5.0%) and Amazon (3.8%).

Within that, Dimensional may give slightly more weight to three groups: smaller companies, value stocks (priced low relative to book value, an accounting measure of net worth) and highly profitable companies. It may also add to, trim or skip a stock based on short-term signals such as price momentum. Trading is flexible. It aims to buy and sell when markets are liquid while limiting turnover and costs. Turnover was 3%, according to the prospectus filed February 27, 2026.

Taxes also shape trading. Dimensional tries to delay realizing capital gains, for example by selling losing positions to offset gains. It also tries to make any realized gains long-term, because those are taxed at lower rates. The fund may use stock-index futures (contracts tied to a market index) to manage cash flowing in or out. It may also lend portfolio stocks for extra income.

• DFUS charges 0.09% a year, versus an average of 0.06% for the similar funds below (7th of 9, cheapest first).
• Of that, 0.08% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $9 in the first year and $115 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It spreads money across U.S. companies of all sizes (2,239 holdings as of July 31, 2026) for 0.09% a year, the kind of broad stock exposure many long-term portfolios are built around.

DFUS could be a portfolio's main growth engine, but it rises and falls with the U.S. market. In the 2022 downturn it dropped 24.6% from January 3 to September 30, 2022. It regained its old high on December 13, 2023, about 14.4 months after the low. 2022 was its worst calendar year, a loss of 18.37%. The prospectus also shows a 20.77% loss in the first quarter of 2020. Its record does not reach back to 2008. Anyone selling shares for spending in a year like 2022 would have been selling at depressed prices.

Income is small: it yielded 0.87% over the 12 months to October 29, 2026, paid quarterly. Its yearly fee of 0.09% is above the 0.06% peer average. It comes to $115 over 10 years on $10,000 in the SEC's standard example. Past results don't predict future returns, and a plan should weigh the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports.