Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF (SCHA)
$31.99−1.54%close of Oct 16, 2026
Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF (SCHA) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) run by Schwab. This fund owns shares of about 1,700 smaller US companies. It charges 0.03% a year. From November 2009 to October 2026 it returned about 11.8% a year, and its worst drop was −42.4%.
Written by the Tactfolio research team. Fund facts checked October 17, 2026. Prices through October 16, 2026.
- Yearly fee
- 0.03%
- about $3 on $10,000
- 1-year return
- 16.1%
- to Oct 16, 2026
- Return per year
- 11.8%
- since November 2009
- Worst drop
- −42.4%
- since 2009
- Below its high
- −11.2%
- now
- Volatility
- 21.6%
- yearly swings
- Issuer
- Schwab
- Tracks
- Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index
- Started trading
- November 3, 2009
- Type
- US stocks, ETF
- Holdings
- 1,721 holdings as of February 28, 2026
- Expense ratio
- 0.03% a year
How has SCHA done since 2009?#
From November 2009 to October 2026, SCHA returned about 11.8% a year. The S&P 500 returned about 14.4% a year over the same dates. Say you put in $10,000 at the start. It would have been worth about $65,837 at the end, with every dividend reinvested.
| Period | SCHA | S&P 500 (SPY) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 month | −2.9% | 1.5% |
| 3 months | −6.3% | 1.9% |
| 6 months | 1.9% | 9.3% |
| Year to date | 13.1% | 12.8% |
| 1 year | 16.1% | 16.8% |
| 3 years per year | 17.9% | 22.0% |
| 5 years per year | 5.9% | 12.8% |
| 10 years per year | 10.1% | 15.4% |
| Since 2009 per year | 11.8% | 14.4% |
Periods longer than a year show the return per year (CAGR). Prices through October 16, 2026. Figures use daily closing prices adjusted for splits, with dividends reinvested. They do not include taxes or the cost of buying and selling. Past results do not tell you what will happen next.
SCHA returns by month and year#
SCHA rose in 128 of its 204 months (63%). Its best month was November 2020, at 17.9%. Its worst was March 2020, at −23.0%.
| Year | Total | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 13.1% | 5.5 | 1.6 | −4.6 | 11.5 | 5.0 | 6.4 | −7.1 | 1.8 | −4.2 | −2.0 | ||
| 2025 | 11.6% | 3.3 | −5.4 | −7.1 | −2.6 | 5.8 | 5.1 | 1.8 | 6.1 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 2.0 | −0.1 |
| 2024 | 11.2% | −3.8 | 4.9 | 3.5 | −6.5 | 4.5 | −1.1 | 8.4 | −0.6 | 1.1 | −1.0 | 10.6 | −7.7 |
| 2023 | 18.5% | 10.4 | −1.9 | −4.2 | −1.8 | −1.7 | 8.6 | 5.3 | −4.1 | −6.0 | −6.4 | 9.5 | 11.9 |
| 2022 | −19.8% | −8.9 | 0.9 | 0.8 | −9.0 | −0.1 | −9.1 | 10.4 | −2.2 | −9.9 | 10.7 | 3.6 | −6.1 |
| 2021 | 16.4% | 4.0 | 6.3 | 1.5 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 1.5 | −2.7 | 2.2 | −3.1 | 4.5 | −4.3 | 2.9 |
| 2020 | 19.3% | −3.0 | −8.4 | −23.0 | 14.6 | 7.4 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 4.4 | −3.6 | 2.2 | 17.9 | 8.5 |
| 2019 | 26.5% | 12.0 | 4.9 | −1.7 | 3.6 | −7.4 | 6.9 | 1.3 | −4.4 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 3.9 | 2.8 |
| 2018 | −11.8% | 2.7 | −4.0 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 5.5 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 4.6 | −2.3 | −10.6 | 1.6 | −11.8 |
| 2017 | 14.9% | 1.0 | 2.0 | −0.3 | 0.8 | −1.8 | 2.9 | 1.1 | −0.9 | 5.4 | 0.9 | 3.0 | 0.1 |
| 2016 | 20.0% | −8.0 | 0.7 | 8.4 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 5.2 | 1.0 | 0.5 | −4.2 | 9.7 | 2.3 |
| 2015 | −4.2% | −2.6 | 6.2 | 1.3 | −1.8 | 2.2 | −0.2 | −0.6 | −6.3 | −4.8 | 5.6 | 2.3 | −4.6 |
| 2014 | 6.6% | −2.2 | 5.1 | −0.3 | −2.8 | 0.6 | 4.9 | −5.4 | 5.0 | −5.3 | 5.0 | 0.8 | 1.7 |
| 2013 | 39.5% | 6.4 | 1.4 | 4.6 | −0.3 | 4.2 | −0.8 | 7.1 | −3.1 | 5.9 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 2.2 |
| 2012 | 18.3% | 7.1 | 3.4 | 2.3 | −1.1 | −6.9 | 4.6 | −0.9 | 3.7 | 2.7 | −1.7 | 1.4 | 3.1 |
| 2011 | −3.1% | 0.8 | 5.5 | 2.2 | 2.8 | −1.6 | −2.0 | −3.7 | −8.4 | −11.0 | 15.8 | −1.0 | 0.2 |
| 2010 | 28.6% | −2.8 | 4.6 | 8.1 | 5.8 | −7.7 | −7.6 | 7.0 | −7.0 | 12.2 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 8.1 |
| 2009 | 9.9% | 2.1 | 7.6 |
Each month runs from the last close of the month before. The first month counts from the first close.
How risky is SCHA compared with the S&P 500?#
Measured from October 2021 to October 2026, on the days both traded.
- Beta 1.11. When the S&P 500 moved 1% in a day, SCHA tended to move about 1.11%.
- Correlation 0.86. SCHA mostly moved with the S&P 500.
- Up and down months. In months the S&P 500 rose, SCHA rose 95% as much on average. In months it fell, SCHA fell 125% as much.
| Measure | SCHA | S&P 500 (SPY) |
|---|---|---|
| Return per year | 5.9% | 12.8% |
| Volatility | 22.0% | 17.1% |
| Worst drop | −30.8% | −24.5% |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.37 | 0.79 |
| Sortino ratio | 0.54 | 1.15 |
| Calmar ratio | 0.19 | 0.52 |
Volatility is how much the price swings in a year. The Sharpe ratio is return per unit of volatility, the Sortino ratio counts only the falls, and the Calmar ratio is the return per year over the worst drop. Higher ratios mean more return for the risk taken.
Is SCHA above its 200-day average?#
SCHA closed 0.9% below its 200-day average on October 16, 2026. A rule that holds SCHA only above that average would be out of it today.
- vs 200-day average
- −0.9%
- below it
- 50-day vs 200-day
- +4.4%
- trend rising
- vs 52-week high
- −11.2%
- high of $36.02
A moving average is the average close over the last so many days. Trend rules such as the 10-month moving average strategy hold a fund only while it is above one. You can build that rule for SCHA and backtest it in a minute.
What was SCHA’s worst drop?#
A drawdown is how far a fund falls from its last high point. SCHA’s worst fall was −42.4%, from January 16, 2020 to March 23, 2020. It got back to that high on November 9, 2020. On October 16, 2026 it was 11.2% below its highest close.
| Drop | From the high | To the bottom | Back to the high |
|---|---|---|---|
| −42.4% | Jan 16, 2020 | Mar 23, 20202 months | Nov 9, 20208 months |
| −30.8% | Nov 8, 2021 | Jun 16, 20227 months | Oct 16, 20242.3 years |
| −28.4% | Apr 29, 2011 | Oct 3, 20115 months | Sep 6, 201211 months |
| −27.3% | Nov 25, 2024 | Apr 8, 20254 months | Sep 18, 20255 months |
| −26.4% | Aug 31, 2018 | Dec 24, 20184 months | Jan 15, 202013 months |
Big drops are normal for some funds. They matter because selling during a drop locks in the loss.
What does SCHA hold?#
This fund owns shares of about 1,700 smaller US companies. Small companies can grow fast, but their stock prices often jump around more than big companies do.
It tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index. It had 1,721 holdings as of February 28, 2026, according to Schwab.
What is the SCHA expense ratio?#
SCHA charges 0.03% a year. An expense ratio is the yearly fee a fund takes to run itself. On $10,000, a 0.03% fee comes to about $3 a year. Of the 162 ETFs on Tactfolio, 85% charge more.
You never get a bill for it. The fund takes the fee out of its own value a little each day.
Which Tactfolio strategies hold SCHA?#
No classic strategy holds SCHA yet. You can add it to your own rules in the builder and see how they would have done.
How does SCHA compare with similar ETFs?#
Funds that can stand in for SCHA:
- VB: Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap ETF, 0.03% a year
- IJR: iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF, 0.06% a year
- IWM: iShares Russell 2000 ETF, 0.19% a year
- VBR: Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF, 0.05% a year
See all 8 SCHA alternatives, compared on the same dates as SCHA.
Test SCHA in your own rules#
Tactfolio is a platform where you build rules-based investing strategies, backtest them on decades of real prices, share them, and run them automatically in your own Alpaca account. Open the builder, add SCHA, and see how a rule such as “hold it only above its 200-day average” would have done. Strategies run on daily prices and hold US stocks and ETFs only.
The details#
Prices come from Tactfolio’s stored daily prices for SCHA and SPY. Each close is adjusted for splits, and dividends are reinvested on the day the fund pays them out. CAGR is the steady yearly return that turns the starting value into the ending value. Volatility is the yearly standard deviation of daily returns. Beta and correlation compare daily returns with the S&P 500 over the same dates.
Fund facts come from Schwab. We checked them on October 17, 2026. Read what a backtest simulates and how to read drawdown and CAGR for more on these measures.
Common questions#
What is the expense ratio of SCHA?#
SCHA charges 0.03% a year, according to Schwab as of October 17, 2026. That is about $3 a year for every $10,000 you hold.
When did SCHA start trading?#
SCHA started trading on November 3, 2009. It is run by Schwab.
What does SCHA track?#
SCHA tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index. This fund owns shares of about 1,700 smaller US companies.
How much has SCHA returned per year?#
From November 2009 to October 2026, SCHA returned about 11.8% a year with dividends reinvested. Its worst drop was −42.4%. Past returns do not tell you what it will do next.
Is SCHA above its 200-day moving average?#
On October 16, 2026, SCHA closed 0.9% below its 200-day moving average. This page updates after each US market close.
Which strategies use SCHA?#
None of Tactfolio’s classic strategies hold SCHA yet. You can test it in your own rules in the builder.