Difference between VTI and VTSAX

[SumDay]

VTI is an Total Stock Market ETF that happened to be up $1.57 yesterday.

VTSAX is the Total Stock Market Admiral Shares Index fund that is down .11.

Yes, I've read the product summary for both, but could someone explain to this old woman why there's such a wild gap in daily performance? Actually most days are rarely are they even close, but this one is especially noticeable.

I will consider the answers as my new thing I learned for the day. Thanks!

 

[samclem]

VTI is an Total Stock Market ETF that happened to be up $1.57 yesterday.

VTSAX is the Total Stock Market Admiral Shares Index fund that is down .11.

Yes, I've read the product summary for both, but could someone explain to this old woman why there's such a wild gap in daily performance? Actually most days are rarely are they even close, but this one is especially noticeable.

I will consider the answers as my new thing I learned for the day. Thanks!

At yesterday's market close, the NAV of both down exactly 0.15%. Maybe the VTI had something to do with vagaries of the bid/ask spread?

 

[Sunset]

You have to compare the same time frame or date

Funds are often slow in showing the price at the end of the day, since it does not trade on the stock market directly like an ETF, so it's easy to read the wrong day for VTSAX.

Also one has to look at the % increase or decrease , as the base price is so different, you would expect VTI to show much larger $$$ changes.

When I look: Market price
as of 05/02/2019

I see the VTSAX is down .15% and the NAV of the VTI is down the same, however since VTI is an ETF, people are free to pay more or less for it, so the market price is down .18%

Change -$0.11 -0.15%

 

[ziggy29]

As stated above, ETFs can sell at a premium or discount to NAV. Traditional mutual fund prices are pegged to their NAV, the per-share value of the underlying securities, so they will be priced after the day's close without a premium or discount.

Also ETFs do have a bid/ask spread where as regular mutual funds do not -- though most of the time (certainly for VTI) that spread is small (often only $0.01 for very heavily traded ETFs).

Also, if you compare the ETF to a similar fund intra-day, VTI will already reflect the market's action so far that day, and VTSAX would not.

 

[jim584672]

You need to wait for Vanguard to update the price for the fund. The price is from the previous day.

 

[SumDay]

Thanks!