The cheapest way
to own America.
Expense ratios down to 3 basis points. AUM in the hundreds of billions. For Indian investors, the trade-off is the LRS USD 250k/FY cap and 20% TCS above ₹7L/FY — vs. higher-TER India-listed ETF mirrors that avoid both.
Three issuers, eighty percent of assets.
Vanguard, BlackRock (iShares), and State Street (SPDR) dominate the US ETF universe by AUM. The smaller issuers — Invesco, Schwab, First Trust — compete on specific themes or fee aggression.
Sorted by AUM.
Tap any ticker for the dossier — top holdings, expense ratio context, and the Indian-listed alternative.
| Ticker | Name | Issuer | Category | Expense | AUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VT | Vanguard | World | 0.07% | — | |
| AGG | iShares | Intermediate Bond | 0.03% | — | |
| BIV | Vanguard | Bond - Intermediate Term | — | — | |
| BLV | Vanguard | Bond - Long Term | — | — | |
| BND | Vanguard | Intermediate Bond | 0.03% | — | |
| BSV | Vanguard | Bond - Short Term | — | — | |
| DIA | SSGA | Large Blend | 0.16% | — | |
| EEM | iShares | Emerging Markets | 0.70% | — | |
| EFA | iShares | Foreign Large Blend | 0.32% | — | |
| EWJ | iShares | Japan | 0.50% | — | |
| FXI | iShares | China | 0.74% | — | |
| GDX | VanEck | Gold Miners | 0.51% | — | |
| GLD | SSGA | Commodities | 0.40% | — | |
| HYG | iShares | High Yield | 0.49% | — | |
| IBB | iShares | Sector - Biotechnology | — | — | |
| IEF | iShares | Intermediate Bond | 0.15% | — | |
| IJH | iShares | Mid Blend | 0.05% | — | |
| IJR | iShares | Small Blend | 0.06% | — | |
| IVV | iShares | Large Blend | 0.03% | — | |
| LQD | iShares | Investment Grade | 0.14% | — | |
| QQQ | Invesco | Large Growth | 0.20% | — | |
| SHY | iShares | Short Bond | 0.15% | — | |
| SLV | iShares | Commodities | 0.50% | — | |
| SMH | VanEck | Semiconductors | 0.35% | — | |
| SPY | SSGA | Large Blend | 0.09% | — | |
| TLT | iShares | Long Bond | 0.15% | — | |
| VEA | Vanguard | Foreign Large Blend | 0.06% | — | |
| VIG | Vanguard | Large Blend | 0.06% | — | |
| VNQ | Vanguard | Real Estate | 0.13% | — | |
| VOO | Vanguard | Large Blend | 0.03% | — | |
| VTI | Vanguard | Total US Market | 0.03% | — | |
| VTV | Vanguard | Large Value | 0.04% | — | |
| VUG | Vanguard | Large Growth | 0.04% | — | |
| VWO | Vanguard | Emerging Markets | 0.08% | — | |
| VYM | Vanguard | Large Value | 0.06% | — | |
| XLB | SPDR | Sector - Materials | — | — | |
| XLE | SSGA | Energy | 0.10% | — | |
| XLF | SSGA | Financials | 0.10% | — | |
| XLI | SPDR | Sector - Industrials | — | — | |
| XLK | SSGA | Tech | 0.10% | — | |
| XLP | SPDR | Sector - Consumer Staples | — | — | |
| XLV | SSGA | Healthcare | 0.10% | — | |
| XLY | SPDR | Sector - Consumer Discretionary | — | — | |
| ARKK | ARK | Innovation | 0.75% | — | |
| IEFA | iShares | Foreign Large Blend | 0.07% | — | |
| IEMG | iShares | Emerging Markets | 0.09% | — | |
| INDA | iShares | India | 0.62% | — | |
| ITOT | iShares | Total US Market | 0.03% | — | |
| JEPI | JPMorgan | Equity Income | 0.35% | — | |
| JEPQ | JPMorgan | Equity Income | 0.35% | — | |
| MTUM | iShares | Large Blend | 0.15% | — | |
| QUAL | iShares | Large Blend | 0.15% | — | |
| SCHD | Schwab | Large Value | 0.06% | — | |
| SOXX | iShares | Semiconductors | 0.35% | — | |
| USMV | iShares | Large Blend | 0.15% | — | |
| VLUE | iShares | Large Value | 0.15% | — | |
| VXUS | Vanguard | Foreign Large Blend | 0.07% | — | |
| XLRE | SPDR | Sector - Real Estate | — | — |
What expense ratio + AUM together tell you.
Ultra-low expense (< 0.10%): the broad-market giants — VOO (S&P 500), VTI (Total Market), IVV, SPY. Compound to almost-identical end-states over 25 years because expense ratio dominates everything else.
Mid (0.10-0.40%): sector tilts (XLF, XLK), factor funds (VLUE, MTUM), and small-cap trackers (IWM). Expense ratio justified by departure from cap-weighted broad market.
High (> 0.5%): thematic and active ETFs (ARKK, BOTZ, ICLN). Read these as expensive active management in ETF wrapper, not passive exposure. Justified only if the theme is genuinely uncorrelated and the manager has skin in the game.
AUM as liquidity proxy: > $10 B AUM = bid-ask spread inside 1 bp on most exchange hours. < $500 M = wider spreads, larger NAV/price gap, and the small but real risk of fund closure (forcing a tax-inefficient redemption for you).
Indian-investor calc: For S&P 500 exposure, compare expense ratio of US-listed VOO (~3 bp) vs. India-listed Motilal Oswal S&P 500 ETF (TER ~50 bp). The 47 bp difference compounds to ~12% lower corpus over 25 years — but the US route requires LRS remittance, FX, TCS overhead, and US estate-tax exposure above USD 60k. The India-listed mirror is operationally simpler and INR-settled.
ETF NAVs, tracking error and AUM are computed from AMFI disclosures. ETFs are subject to market risk and tracking-error risk. MintByte is an AMFI-registered mutual fund distributor (ARN-314872). MintByte does not issue buy/sell recommendations on specific securities — the site is an educational data and analytics platform. Not investment advice. Methodology · How we earn.