SCHE vs SPEM: Which ETF Is Better in 2026?
A metric-by-metric comparison of Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF (SCHE) and State Street SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF (SPEM) — both Emerging Markets funds — using ETFValuer's daily-updated rankings.
Educational content — not financial advice. Data as of July 25, 2026. ~5 minute read.
The Verdict
SCHE and SPEM are close to the same fund wearing different labels. Both sit in the Emerging Markets category and their daily returns move almost identically, so this is not really a question of which fund is better — it is a question of which one is cheaper to own and easier to trade in your account. Everything below is about finding the small, structural edges, because the investment exposure is a wash.
On ETFValuer's overall model — which blends return, risk-adjusted performance, cost, drawdown, size and volatility — SPEM scores higher: 63.5 (Grade C) versus 62.9 for SCHE. That doesn't make SCHE a bad fund; it means SPEM currently edges it out on this specific mix of factors. Read the metric-by-metric breakdown below before deciding which matters more for your own portfolio.
Head-to-Head: Every Metric
| SCHE | SPEM | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Emerging Markets | Emerging Markets |
| Expense ratio | 0.06% | 0.07% |
| Fund size (AUM) | $12.5B | $17.3B |
| Dividend yield | 2.66% | 2.53% |
| 1-year return | +16.31% | +16.51% |
| 3-year return | +48.76% | +49.80% |
| Volatility | 17.78% | 17.50% |
| Max drawdown | -17.07% | -17.62% |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.64 | 0.66 |
| ETFValuer score | 62.9 | 63.5 |
| Grade | C | C |
| Overall rank | #197 | #189 |
Bold marks the better value in each row. "Better" is directional only (e.g. lower cost, higher return) — it isn't a recommendation by itself. See the full methodology.
Cost
On cost, the two are essentially tied — SCHE charges 0.06% a year versus SPEM's 0.07%. A difference this small (about $1.00 a year on a $10,000 position) isn't a reason to choose one fund over the other. That matters more than usual here: when two funds track the same exposure this closely, fee is normally the whole argument — and with the fees this close, there is no argument left. Liquidity and whichever one trades commission-free in your account become the tiebreaker.
What SPEM's Fees Cost You
SPEM charges an expense ratio of 0.07% a year, deducted automatically from the fund's value. Small percentages compound into real money — adjust the figures below to see the impact on your own numbers.
Assumes a constant gross return and no additional contributions — a simplification, but it isolates exactly what the expense ratio costs. Try the full fee calculator to model contributions and compare any two funds.
Performance & Risk
Over the trailing 3 years, SPEM returned +49.80% versus +48.76% for SCHE — a gap of about 1.0 percentage points. On risk, SCHE has held up better historically, with a shallower max drawdown (-17.07% vs. -17.62%). SPEM currently has the better risk-adjusted return (Sharpe ratio of 0.66 vs. 0.64), meaning it delivered more return per unit of volatility taken on. Read that gap sceptically: for funds tracking near-identical exposure, a 1.0-point difference over three years is mostly noise from fee drag and timing, not evidence that one manager is better than the other.
How Closely Do They Track Each Other?
Over the last 3.0 years of daily returns (752 shared trading days), SCHE and SPEM show a near-perfect correlation of 0.995 — functionally interchangeable. At this level the two funds are, for practical purposes, the same investment. Owning both adds no diversification whatsoever — the decision should come down entirely to cost, spread and which one your broker handles better.
| Measure | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Daily return correlation | 0.995 | Near-perfect — functionally interchangeable |
| R-squared | 99.0% | 99.0% of SCHE's daily moves are explained by SPEM's |
| Tracking error (annualised) | 1.73% | Typical yearly spread between the two funds' returns |
| Annualised return over 3.0y | SCHE +15.02% · SPEM +15.31% | SPEM ahead by 0.29 points a year |
Correlation alone understates how far these can drift. Across every rolling 12-month window in the period, SCHE finished as much as +1.9 points ahead of SPEM at the best extreme and -1.4 points at the worst — a 3.4-point spread between the best and worst year of relative performance. Two funds can correlate tightly day to day and still deliver very different outcomes over any single year you happen to hold them.
Calculated from daily total returns over the trailing 3-year window, recomputed every day this site refreshes. Correlation of 1.00 means the two funds moved in lockstep; 0.00 means their daily moves were unrelated.
Holdings Overlap
SCHE and SPEM hold 9 of the same companies among their top 10 positions. Those shared names make up 29.7% of SCHE and 23.3% of SPEM. That's heavy duplication — owning both largely doubles down on the same companies rather than spreading risk. Most investors should pick one.
| Shared Holding | SCHE Weight | SPEM Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | 17.06% | 11.96% |
| Tencent Holdings Ltd | 3.15% | 3.48% |
| Alibaba Group Holding Ltd | 2.57% | 2.57% |
| MediaTek Inc | 1.88% | 0.82% |
| Delta Electronics Inc | 1.40% | 0.93% |
| Reliance Industries Ltd | 0.88% | 0.99% |
| China Construction Bank Corp | 0.88% | 0.95% |
| Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd | 1.04% | 0.77% |
| HDFC Bank Ltd | 0.83% | 0.84% |
Compares the top 10 reported holdings from each fund's most recent SEC N-PORT-P filing, so it understates total overlap — funds tracking similar indexes overlap far more deeply than the top 10 alone can show. Search any company across all tracked funds with the Stock Overlap tool.
Which One Should You Pick?
Lean SCHE if…
- You want the lower running cost — 0.06% vs 0.07%, about $1 a year less on a $10,000 position
Lean SPEM if…
- You weight recent results heavily — it returned 49.8% over 3 years against 48.8%
Whichever you pick, holding both at full weight is usually the wrong answer — see the overlap and correlation sections above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SCHE or SPEM better?
On ETFValuer's overall model — which blends return, risk-adjusted performance, cost, drawdown, size and volatility — SPEM scores higher: 63.5 (Grade C) versus 62.9 for SCHE. That doesn't make SCHE a bad fund; it means SPEM currently edges it out on this specific mix of factors. Read the metric-by-metric breakdown below before deciding which matters more for your own portfolio.
Which has the lower expense ratio, SCHE or SPEM?
SCHE currently has the lower expense ratio (0.06% vs. 0.07%).
Can I hold both SCHE and SPEM?
You can, but there's little point. SCHE and SPEM have a daily return correlation of 0.99 over the past 3.0 years, meaning they move almost in lockstep. Holding both roughly doubles a single bet rather than spreading it — pick whichever wins on cost and liquidity and put the money in one place.
Go deeper on either fund
Full daily-updated metrics, holdings context, and category peers.