# VTIP ETF: fees, returns, drawdowns and holdings

> What VTIP holds, its 0.03% yearly fee, returns by year, its worst drop, and which Tactfolio strategies hold it. Updated daily.

Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities ETF (VTIP) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) run by Vanguard. This fund owns US Treasury bonds called TIPS, whose value is adjusted for inflation. It charges 0.03% a year. From October 2012 to October 2026 it returned about 2.2% a year, and its worst drop was −6.3%.

Written by [the Tactfolio research team](https://tactfolio.com/about/editorial-policy). Fund facts checked October 17, 2026. Prices through October 16, 2026.

## Key points

- Expense ratio: 0.03% a year (about $3 on $10,000).
- Started trading on October 12, 2012.
- Last close: $48.68 on October 16, 2026.
- Return over the last year: 1.8%.
- Worst drop since 2012: −6.3%.
- No Tactfolio classic strategies hold it.

## How has VTIP done since 2012?

From October 2012 to October 2026, VTIP returned about 2.2% a year. The S&P 500 returned about 14.5% a year over the same dates. Say you put in $10,000 at the start. It would have been worth about $13,527 at the end, with every dividend reinvested.

| Period | VTIP | S&P 500 (SPY) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 month | 0.5% | 1.5% |
| 3 months | 0.0% | 1.9% |
| 6 months | 0.3% | 9.3% |
| Year to date | 1.8% | 12.8% |
| 1 year | 1.8% | 16.8% |
| 3 years, per year | 4.9% | 22.0% |
| 5 years, per year | 3.0% | 12.8% |
| 10 years, per year | 3.0% | 15.4% |
| Since 2012, per year | 2.2% | 14.5% |

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.

## VTIP returns by month and year

VTIP rose in 108 of its 169 months (64%). Its best month was March 2023, at 2.0%. Its worst was September 2022, at −2.9%.

| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Full year |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 (part) | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.9% | 0.1% | −0.4% | 0.2% | 0.0% | −0.9% | 0.8% |  |  | 1.8% |
| 2025 | 0.9% | 1.2% | 0.9% | 0.8% | −0.4% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 1.4% | −0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 6.1% |
| 2024 | 0.5% | −0.2% | 0.6% | −0.1% | 1.0% | 0.5% | 0.9% | 0.6% | 1.0% | −0.4% | 0.4% | −0.1% | 4.7% |
| 2023 | 0.8% | −0.4% | 2.0% | 0.1% | −0.7% | −0.2% | 0.5% | 0.2% | −0.2% | 0.4% | 1.0% | 1.1% | 4.6% |
| 2022 | −0.7% | 1.1% | −0.8% | −0.1% | 0.5% | −1.6% | 1.8% | −1.5% | −2.9% | 1.1% | 0.5% | −0.4% | −2.9% |
| 2021 | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.0% | 1.3% | 0.0% | −0.1% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.5% | 5.4% |
| 2020 | 0.4% | 0.4% | −1.9% | 1.4% | 0.9% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 1.1% | −0.2% | −0.2% | 0.6% | 1.0% | 5.0% |
| 2019 | 0.8% | 0.0% | 0.9% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.5% | −0.2% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.9% | 4.9% |
| 2018 | −0.4% | −0.1% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.2% | −0.2% | 0.5% | −0.2% | −0.4% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.6% |
| 2017 | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | −0.4% | 0.3% | 0.3% | −0.1% | 0.2% | −0.1% | 0.2% | 0.8% |
| 2016 | 0.3% | 0.1% | 1.2% | −0.2% | −0.1% | 1.0% | −0.1% | −0.4% | 0.8% | 0.0% | −0.6% | 0.3% | 2.5% |
| 2015 | 1.0% | −0.2% | −0.4% | 0.7% | −0.1% | −0.1% | −0.2% | −0.4% | −0.1% | 0.1% | −0.2% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 2014 | 0.2% | 0.3% | −0.4% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.3% | −0.3% | −0.1% | −1.1% | 0.1% | −0.2% | −1.4% | −1.4% |
| 2013 | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.3% | −0.5% | −0.9% | −1.0% | 0.7% | −0.5% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.0% | −0.4% | −1.5% |
| 2012 (part) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 0.0% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.6% |

Each month runs from the last close of the month before. The first month counts from the first close.

## How risky is VTIP compared with the S&P 500?

Measured from October 2021 to October 2026, on the days both traded.

- **Beta 0.02.** When the S&P 500 moved 1% in a day, VTIP tended to move about 0.02%.
- **Correlation 0.15.** VTIP moved mostly on its own, apart from the S&P 500.
- **Up and down months.** In months the S&P 500 rose, VTIP rose 14% as much on average. In months it fell, VTIP fell 6% as much.

| Measure | VTIP | S&P 500 (SPY) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Return per year | 3.0% | 12.8% |
| Volatility | 2.8% | 17.1% |
| Worst drop | −5.5% | −24.5% |
| Sharpe ratio | 1.09 | 0.79 |
| Sortino ratio | 1.62 | 1.15 |
| Calmar ratio | 0.55 | 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 VTIP above its 200-day average?

VTIP closed 0.4% above its 200-day average on October 16, 2026. A rule that holds VTIP only above that average would hold it today.

- Its 50-day average is 0.3% above its 200-day average.
- It closed 0.5% below its highest close of the last 52 weeks.

A moving average is the average close over the last so many days. Trend rules such as [the 10-month moving average strategy](https://tactfolio.com/strategies/faber-10-month-moving-average.md) hold a fund only while it is above one. You can [build that rule for VTIP](https://tactfolio.com/builder) and backtest it in a minute.

## What was VTIP's worst drop?

A drawdown is how far a fund falls from its last high point. VTIP's worst fall was −6.3%, from March 5, 2020 to March 18, 2020. It got back to that high on June 5, 2020. On October 16, 2026 it was 0.5% below its highest close.

| Drop | Started | Bottom | Back to the high | Fall took | Recovery took |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −6.3% | Mar 5, 2020 | Mar 18, 2020 | Jun 5, 2020 | 13 days | 3 months |
| −5.5% | Mar 11, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 | Dec 14, 2023 | 7 months | 14 months |
| −3.7% | Apr 1, 2013 | Mar 17, 2015 | Apr 3, 2017 | 23 months | 2.0 years |

Big drops are normal for some funds. They matter because selling during a drop locks in the loss.

## What does VTIP hold?

This fund owns US Treasury bonds called TIPS, whose value is adjusted for inflation. All of them are paid back in less than five years. Its price can still go down at times, for example when interest rates rise.

It tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) 0-5 Year Index. It had 25 holdings as of September 30, 2026, according to Vanguard.

| Fact | VTIP |
| --- | --- |
| Full name | Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities ETF |
| Issuer | Vanguard |
| Expense ratio | 0.03% a year |
| Started trading | October 12, 2012 |
| Tracks | Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) 0-5 Year Index |
| Type | US bonds, ETF |
| Holdings | 25 holdings as of September 30, 2026 |
| Facts checked | October 17, 2026 on the [Vanguard fund page](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vtip) |

## What is the VTIP expense ratio?

VTIP 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 VTIP?

No classic strategy holds VTIP yet. You can add it to your own rules in the [builder](https://tactfolio.com/builder) and see how they would have done.

## How does VTIP compare with similar ETFs?

Funds that can stand in for VTIP:

- [SCHP](https://tactfolio.com/etf/SCHP.md): Schwab U.S. TIPS ETF, 0.03% a year
- [TIP](https://tactfolio.com/etf/TIP.md): iShares TIPS Bond ETF, 0.18% a year
- [VGIT](https://tactfolio.com/etf/VGIT.md): Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF, 0.03% a year
- [IEF](https://tactfolio.com/etf/IEF.md): iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF, 0.15% a year

See [all 8 VTIP alternatives](https://tactfolio.com/alternatives/VTIP.md), compared on the same dates as VTIP.

## Test VTIP 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](https://tactfolio.com/builder), add VTIP, 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 VTIP 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 Vanguard. We checked them on October 17, 2026. Read [what a backtest simulates](https://tactfolio.com/docs/backtests.md) and [how to read drawdown and CAGR](https://tactfolio.com/docs/concepts/reading-a-backtest.md) for more on these measures.

## Research and test it

- [Portfolio rebalancing](https://tactfolio.com/learn/portfolio-rebalancing): What portfolio rebalancing is, why a 60/40 mix drifts, calendar vs threshold methods, and how taxes and costs fit in.
- [Risk parity](https://tactfolio.com/learn/risk-parity): Risk parity balances risk instead of dollars. See a simple stock and bond example, why funds use leverage, and what went wrong in 2022.
- [ETF screener](https://tactfolio.com/screener.md): A free ETF screener for 162 US-listed funds. Filter by type, issuer and fee, sort by returns or worst drop, and compare funds side by side.
- [ETF expense ratio](https://tactfolio.com/learn/etf-expense-ratio): What an ETF expense ratio is, how the fund charges it, and how 0.03% vs 1% adds up over 10 and 30 years, with real fund examples.
- [Backtest a portfolio](https://tactfolio.com/trading-tools/backtest-portfolio): Backtest a portfolio of US stocks and ETFs. Enter tickers and shares, pick when to rebalance, and get the results with a link to share.
- [Backtesting](https://tactfolio.com/backtesting): Free backtesting software for stocks, ETFs, and crypto perps.

## Common questions

### What is the expense ratio of VTIP?

VTIP charges 0.03% a year, according to Vanguard as of October 17, 2026. That is about $3 a year for every $10,000 you hold.

### When did VTIP start trading?

VTIP started trading on October 12, 2012. It is run by Vanguard.

### What does VTIP track?

VTIP tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) 0-5 Year Index. This fund owns US Treasury bonds called TIPS, whose value is adjusted for inflation.

### How much has VTIP returned per year?

From October 2012 to October 2026, VTIP returned about 2.2% a year with dividends reinvested. Its worst drop was −6.3%. Past returns do not tell you what it will do next.

### Is VTIP above its 200-day moving average?

On October 16, 2026, VTIP closed 0.4% above its 200-day moving average. This page updates after each US market close.

### Which strategies use VTIP?

None of Tactfolio's classic strategies hold VTIP yet. You can test it in your own rules in the builder.

## Sources

- [Vanguard: Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities ETF fund page](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vtip)

> Not financial advice. Tactfolio is a research and automation tool. It is not a broker or a financial adviser. This page is for education only. Backtests are hypothetical. They show how rules would have done on past prices, not how they will do. All investing involves risk, including losing the money you put in.