This Vanguard ETF Covers the Entire Stock Market
Thousands of US stocks in a single, total-market fund.
This article mentions funds that have an issuer-initiated rating and/or track a Morningstar Index. For full disclosure information, please refer to the specific funds, which are demarcated with a * symbol, listed below.
Key Morningstar Metrics for Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Process Pillar: High
- People Pillar: Above Average
- Parent Pillar: High
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF
VTI
This exchange-traded fund tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index, which selects all investable US stocks and weights them by market cap. As a result, the fund experiences little turnover because of the minuscule average size of additions or deletions to the existing portfolio. Stocks must pass an eligibility screen that ensures they are easy to trade, and rebalancing is spread across a five-day period to minimize market impact costs. The fund holds a representative basket of stocks within the index, which further reduces unnecessary trading costs.
Assigning position sizes based on a stock’s market cap is a simple and efficient method to weight the portfolio. Since US stocks are highly traded, they quickly reflect new information, and carving an edge is difficult. A market-cap-weighted portfolio naturally adjusts to price changes without frequent rebalancing, lowering trading costs. That, and lower fees, give large-blend index funds a long-term performance advantage over most actively managed peers.
The portfolio is broad and well-diversified. It typically holds around 3,500 stocks, and the top 10 represented 35% of the portfolio as of year-end 2025. Still, the fund’s market-cap weighting can contribute to portfolio concentration when a few stocks dominate the market. This has been the case lately with a handful of mega-cap technology stocks growing to prominence and commanding a greater share of the portfolio.
When a few richly valued companies or sectors power most of the market gains, the strategy’s market-cap weighting may overexpose it to the fluctuations of one stock or sector. But this is not a fault in design, as it simply reflects the market’s composition. Its low turnover, low fee, and broad diversification across the US market more than offset these risks.
The ETF returned 15.1% annualized over the past 10 years through January 2026. It holds little cash, which should help it outperform cash-saddled active peers during market rallies. Likewise, low cash drag could hurt this fund when the stock market declines, but long-term positive returns give this efficient approach a clear edge.
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Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF: Performance Highlights
The CRSP US Total Market Index returned 15.1% annualized over the past 10 years through January 2026. This ETF’s low fees allowed it to capture nearly all of the index’s performance. Additionally, it engages in securities lending, which allows it to earn back a portion of its fee, slightly improving investor returns.
The ETF’s performance closely follows the ups and downs of the US stock market, since it is always fully invested. All else equal, it should outperform large-blend Morningstar Category peers that hold cash during market rallies, holding back returns. But no cash buffer also means that the strategy may lag similar peers when the market falls.
The portfolio’s market-cap weighting leans it toward the largest US stocks despite including small-cap stocks. This means it will perform best when large stocks soar. That’s been the case over the past decade or so as the market’s largest stocks, like Nvidia NVDA, have dominated index returns. However, if mid- or small-cap stocks outperform, the fund should beat peers that exclude those segments.
Investors should expect meaningful fluctuations in performance over shorter periods because of the index’s dependence on the market’s largest companies. In its 15-year history, the CRSP US Total Market Index has registered a negative annual return about 20% of the time. However, this is still less often than its average US large-blend peer. Performance tends to be more stable over longer periods, allowing its unmatched breadth and low fee to carve out a durable advantage over peers.
Editor’s Note: Morningstar acquired the Center for Research in Security Prices, the provider of the index tracked by this fund, in February 2026. Morningstar analysts work independently from the index business, and the Medalist Ratings for funds tracking CRSP indexes are based solely on the fund's investment merits. Analysts do not provide qualitative ratings or opinions for investments managed by Morningstar or managed investments that track Morningstar indexes that incorporate discretionary inputs assigned by Morningstar employees on an ongoing basis, such as Morningstar Economic Moat Ratings or ESG Risk Ratings.
The author or authors own shares in one or more securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar’s editorial policies.
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