IEF vs VGLT: Performance, Holdings, Fees & Risk
IEF and VGLT are ETFs, but they can differ materially in exposure, yield, fees and risk. IEF is iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF, while VGLT is Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF. VGLT is broader by holdings count, with 102 positions versus 18 for IEF. IEF is more concentrated at the top, based on top-10 holdings weight. Current AlgovestIQ evidence has IEF ahead on AIQ Score, 62 versus 53.
What is the main difference between IEF and VGLT?
VGLT holds 102 positions to IEF's 18, and 0% of their weight is in the same securities.
| Metric | IEF | VGLT |
|---|---|---|
| Fund | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.03% |
| Holdings | 18 | 102 |
| Top-10 concentration | 84.8% | 21.3% |
| Distribution yieldTrailing 12 months | 4.12% | 4.91% |
| Average volume | 8,070,999 | 2,740,252 |
| Performance | ||
| 1Y return | -7.5% | -11.3% |
| YTD return | -6.1% | -7.8% |
| 5Y annualized returnTotal return, distributions reinvested | -1.6% | -6.7% |
| Risk | ||
| Annualized volatility | 5.1% | 8.8% |
| Max drawdown (1Y) | -9.3% | -14.9% |
| Max drawdown (5Y)Total return, distributions reinvested | -20.4% | -41% |
| Beta | 0.13 | 0.22 |
| Sharpe ratio | -2.25 | -1.74 |
| Sortino ratio | -3.30 | -2.63 |
| AlgovestIQ | ||
| AIQ Score | 62/100 | 53/100 |
| AIQ Edge Score | 8/10 | 5/10 |
| Momentum | 58/100 | 59/100 |
| Risk Resilience | 87/100 | 53/100 |
AlgovestIQ AIQ Comparison
iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF vs Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF
IEF leads
IEF leads by 9 AIQ points, primarily on Risk Resilience and Value.
Competitive: 3 of 4 evidence groups support IEF, and its current signal state is conflicted.
iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF
Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF
The Algovestiq AIQ Score currently favors IEF over VGLT, 62 versus 53 as of Oct 21, 2026. IEF's advantage is driven primarily by stronger risk resilience and value. IEF also shows the weaker technical structure relative to its 50-day moving average. 3 of 4 covered evidence groups favor IEF today, and the comparison is rated Competitive on stability: the leader is throwing conflicting signals. IEF lead: Stable — the AIQ differential has held near 9 points over 30 sessions.
Compare iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF and Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF across performance, expense ratio, dividend yield, drawdown, volatility and the Algovestiq AIQ Score.
IEF vs VGLT: which fits what
Each row is settled by a single measure. Where the gap is too small to matter it reads Similar, and no row decides the comparison as a whole.
| If you want | IEF | VGLT | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower costExpense ratio | 0.15% | 0.03% | VGLT |
| Broader diversificationNumber of holdings | 18 | 102 | VGLT |
| Lower concentrationWeight of the 10 largest holdings | 84.8% | 21.3% | VGLT |
| Higher incomeTrailing 12-month distribution yield | 4.12% | 4.91% | VGLT |
| Smaller drawdownsMax drawdown, 5 years | -20.4% | -41% | IEF |
| Lower volatilityAnnualized volatility, 1 year | 5.1% | 8.8% | IEF |
Similar means the gap is within 0.01 percentage points of expense ratio, 25% more holdings, 3 points of top-10 weight, 0.2 points of yield, 2 points of drawdown or 1 point of volatility. Past drawdowns and volatility describe the funds’ history, not their future.
Performance over time
Total return with distributions reinvested, from daily closes for both ETFs.
Total return comparison
Growth of $10,000, distributions reinvested
Split-adjusted closes; each distribution is reinvested at the close on its ex-dividend date. Taxes and trading costs are not modeled.
Compare IEF and VGLT against another ticker
Open a multi-ticker workspace without changing this focused pair page.
AIQ Factor Divergence
Where the two separate, on the four dimensions behind the AIQ Score. Bars read outward from a shared zero: further from the centre is a wider gap.
- Risk Resilience87 vs 53IEF +34
- Value45 vs 36IEF +9
- Quality71 vs 64IEF +7
- Momentum58 vs 59Even
3 of 4 evidence groups favor IEF. IEF’s edge is concentrated in risk resilience and value.
What changed since the last close
Latest scored session 2026-10-20, compared against the prior scored session 2026-10-19.
Largest factor move: Momentum +5
No signal started or stopped since the prior session; its 6 active signals are unchanged.
Largest factor move: Momentum +7
New signals
- RSI Overbought — bearish, momentum, short horizon
IEF's lead narrowed by 1 AIQ point in the latest session.
Deeper signal detail for each name lives on its own signals page — IEF and VGLT both carry a full feed there.
Fund facts, side by side
Two funds tracking overlapping universes are separated by cost and risk far more than by holdings. Those lead here.
| Measure | IEF | VGLT | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.03% | Lower is better — it compounds against you every year you hold. |
| Holdings | 18 | 102 | More holdings means broader diversification, not better returns. |
| Average volume | 8,070,999 | 2,740,252 | Liquidity — matters most if you trade size. |
| Annualized volatility | 5.1% | 8.8% | Lower is a steadier ride for the same exposure. |
| Max drawdown (1Y) | -9.3% | -14.9% | The worst peak-to-trough loss over the past year. |
| Sharpe ratio | -2.25 | -1.74 | Return per unit of risk. Higher is better. |
| Beta | 0.13 | 0.22 | Sensitivity to the broad market. Neither direction is better — it depends on the role in your portfolio. |
Where the exposure actually sits
Sector exposure for each fund, ordered by the size of the difference.
How much of the same holdings they own
IEF and VGLT share 0% of their weighted exposure across 0 common holdings.
16 holdings are unique to IEF, and 99 holdings are unique to VGLT. Owning both is genuinely additive — most of the capital sits in different securities.
IEF is the more concentrated of the two: its ten largest positions are 84.78% of the fund, against 21.31% for VGLT (18 holdings vs 102). Concentration cuts both ways — it is what drives outperformance when the top names work, and what makes the drawdown deeper when they do not.
What IEF adds that VGLT doesn’t
| Holding | IEF | VGLT |
|---|---|---|
| TREASURY NOTE (2OLD) 4.13% 02/15/2036 | 9.36% | Not held |
| TREASURY NOTE 4.63% 02/15/2035 | 8.79% | Not held |
| TREASURY NOTE 4.25% 11/15/2034 | 8.77% | Not held |
| TREASURY NOTE 4.00% 11/15/2035 | 8.66% | Not held |
| TREASURY NOTE (OLD) 4.38% 05/15/2036 | 8.65% | Not held |
| TREASURY NOTE 4.38% 05/15/2034 | 8.45% | Not held |
What VGLT adds that IEF doesn’t
| Holding | VGLT | IEF |
|---|---|---|
| United States Treasury Note/Bond 5.00% 05/15/2056 | 2.22% | Not held |
| United States Treasury Note/Bond 4.75% 05/15/2055 | 2.2% | Not held |
| United States Treasury Note/Bond 4.75% 08/15/2055 | 2.2% | Not held |
| United States Treasury Note/Bond 4.63% 02/15/2055 | 2.15% | Not held |
| United States Treasury Note/Bond 4.63% 11/15/2055 | 2.14% | Not held |
| United States Treasury Note/Bond 4.75% 02/15/2056 | 2.13% | Not held |
Each list is a fund’s largest positions by weight that the other fund does not hold, or holds at less than half the weight.
AIQ Agreement Matrix
3 of 4 covered evidence groups favor IEF. A wide gap backed by one group is a weaker case than a narrow gap backed by five.
| Evidence group | Favors | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| AIQ Score | IEF | 62 vs 53 |
| Fundamentals | Not covered | Not covered |
| Valuation | IEF | Value 45 vs 36 |
| Technicals | Even | Price vs 50-day -1.1% vs -0.6%; vs 200-day -4.1% vs -5.3% |
| Risk Resilience | IEF | Risk Resilience 87 vs 53 |
| Analyst expectations | Not covered | Not covered |
✓ agrees with the overall verdict · ✕ points the other way. Groups marked “not covered” lack data on one or both of IEF and VGLT and are excluded from the count.
AIQ Decision Stability
The two are close enough that your objective, not the score, should decide.
- The AIQ gap is moderate at 9 points.
- The lead has been steady session to session. (supports the conclusion holding)
- The leader is throwing conflicting signals. (argues the conclusion is provisional)
Stability combines the score gap, how broadly the evidence agrees, how steady the lead has been across daily snapshots, the current signal state on both names, and analyst dispersion on IEF.
How the comparison changed
120 daily snapshots · Jun 21 – Oct 20IEF lead: Stable — the AIQ differential has held near 9 points over 30 sessions.
- Today
- IEF +9
- 62 vs 53
- 7 sessions ago
- IEF +10
- 60 vs 50
- 30 sessions ago
- IEF +10
- 54 vs 44
- 90 sessions ago
- IEF +12
- 56 vs 44
The lead has not changed hands in this window.
AIQ Signal Divergence
Only the signals that bear on the head-to-head. A conflicted name is carrying bullish and bearish rules at the same time — the technical evidence is not pointing one way.
1 bullish / 3 bearish / 2 neutral, conflicted
Only IEF
- 52-Week Low Proximity — bearish, risk, long horizon (1.7%)
1 bullish / 3 bearish / 2 neutral, conflicted
Only VGLT
- RSI Overbought — bearish, momentum, short horizon
Both carry 5 more signals that do not separate them: Bollinger Band Squeeze, Death Cross Active, ATR Contraction - Coiling, Downtrend Structure Active, MACD Bullish Crossover.
IEF leads the comparison while carrying a conflicted signal state, which is one reason the stability rating is not higher.
Price vs model alignment
Whether the latest session's price move confirms what the model did over the same session, or contradicts it.
Neither the price nor the AIQ Score moved enough in the latest session to confirm or contradict the other (price -0.02%, AIQ +1 points).
Price and the AIQ Score both moved up over the latest session (price +0.12%, AIQ +2 points).
What would flip this result
A state, not a forecast. These are the specific, observable changes that would reverse the verdict — not a price prediction.
- 1VGLT closes the Risk Resilience gap — currently 34 points behind, the largest single contributor to IEF's edge.
- 2VGLT's Death Cross Active resolves — a bearish trend rule currently active against it.
- 3IEF's conflicting signal state resolves bearish — it currently carries 1 bullish and 3 bearish rules at once.
- 4A regime shift changes factor weighting — Quality and Value carry the heaviest weights in the composite, so a rotation toward either would move the result most.
The full evidence
Every number behind the verdict. The leader is called above each group so you are not left to solve it from the table.
Performance
IEF leads 5 of 6 windows| Metric | IEF | VGLT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 week (5 sessions) | 0.8% | 2% |
| 1 month (20 sessions) | -1% | -1.9% |
| 3 months (63 sessions) | -3.1% | -3.7% |
| 6 months (126 sessions) | -5.4% | -7% |
| Year to date | -6.1% | -7.8% |
| 1 year (252 sessions) | -7.5% | -11.3% |
Technicals
Split| Metric | IEF | VGLT |
|---|---|---|
| RSI (14) | 68.6 | 71.4 |
| ADX (14) | 32.3 | 28 |
| Price vs 50-day | -1.1% | -0.6% |
| Price vs 200-day | -4.1% | -5.3% |
| Volatility (1M, annualized) | 6.2% | 10.8% |
Risk
IEF is the more resilient| Metric | IEF | VGLT |
|---|---|---|
| Beta | 0.13 | 0.22 |
| Sharpe ratio | -2.25 | -1.74 |
| Sortino ratio | -3.3 | -2.63 |
| Max drawdown | -9.3% | -14.9% |
| Current drawdown | -7.9% | -11.9% |
| Annualized volatility | 5.1% | 8.8% |
| Value at risk (95%) | -0.5% | -1% |
Straight answers
Short answers to the questions fund investors ask about this pair, from the figures above.
What is the difference between IEF and VGLT?
VGLT holds 102 positions to IEF's 18, and 0% of their weight is in the same securities.
How much do IEF and VGLT overlap?
IEF and VGLT share 0% of their weighted exposure across 0 common holdings. 16 holdings are unique to IEF, and 99 holdings are unique to VGLT. Owning both is genuinely additive — most of the capital sits in different securities.
Which ETF is more diversified, IEF or VGLT?
VGLT holds more positions: 102 versus 18 for IEF.
Which has the lower expense ratio?
VGLT has the lower expense ratio, 0.03% a year against 0.15% for IEF.
Which ETF has the higher distribution yield?
VGLT, with a trailing 12-month distribution yield of 4.91% against 4.12% for IEF.
Which ETF has been more volatile?
VGLT has been more volatile over the past year, at 8.8% annualized against 5.1% for IEF.
Which ETF has had the smaller drawdown?
IEF fell less from peak to trough over the past five years: -20.4% against -41% for VGLT.
Compare IEF and VGLT with others
Continue your research
This page answers which of the two. These answer the questions on either side of it.
How this comparison is scored
The Algovestiq AIQ Score composites four factors — Quality, Value, Momentum and Risk, each carrying a fixed weight. Sentiment is reported separately as SentimentPulse and is not folded into the composite. Scores refresh every trading day, and this page regenerates from the latest snapshot rather than being written once.
The verdict names a leader, states how broadly six independent evidence groups agree, and rates how durable that conclusion is given the score gap, its recent trajectory and the current signal state on both names.
How to use side-by-side comparison →This comparison is informational and educational, not investment advice. AIQ scores update daily; re-check after earnings, guidance or macro data that materially changes either name’s factor profile.