ETF Comparison Atlas
Research standards

Primary source register

ETF facts can change. This register explains which evidence controls when sources disagree and gives readers a direct route to current filings, issuer documents, regulator guidance, and tax publications.

Source hierarchy

  1. Fund filings and prospectuses. Use the latest statutory prospectus, summary prospectus, statement of additional information, and shareholder reports for legal structure, objectives, principal risks, and stated fees.
  2. Issuer product pages and holdings files. Use dated issuer data for current expense ratios, holdings, distributions, assets, and portfolio characteristics. Record the review date because these fields change.
  3. Index-provider methodology. Use the named benchmark provider for eligibility, weighting, rebalancing, and constituent rules.
  4. Regulator and tax authority guidance. Use SEC, FINRA, CFTC, and IRS material for general product, trading, leverage, and tax context.
  5. Calculations. Label assumptions and formulas. Do not present a model output as a filed fund fact.

Official verification tools

SEC EDGAR filings

Search prospectuses, registration statements, shareholder reports, and other fund filings by fund or issuer.

Search SEC filings

Investor.gov ETF overview

Confirm the basic legal and trading distinctions between ETFs and mutual funds before interpreting a comparison.

Review the SEC investor definition

FINRA exchange-traded products

Review structure, pricing, costs, liquidity, leverage, and product-specific risk considerations.

Read FINRA's ETP guidance

IRS Publication 550

Use the current publication for general U.S. federal information on investment income, expenses, gains, and losses; individual circumstances may differ.

Open IRS Publication 550

Page-level citations

Curated current edition fund profiles and comparisons link directly to issuer evidence. Earlier research pages provide verification prompts and should be refreshed against the latest primary documents before relying on a dated fact.

Conflict rule: A current filed document controls over a stale marketing page. A current issuer disclosure controls over an undated secondary database. If a discrepancy cannot be resolved, the page should describe the uncertainty rather than select a convenient number.

Update cadence

commonly compared pages are reviewed when a material filing, fee change, index change, or material disclosure or market change warrants an update. Every factual refresh should update the visible review date and preserve a reproducible source trail.