USFR vs VUSXX: Floating Rate or Treasury Money Fund?
USFR holds U.S. Treasury floating rate notes whose coupons reset weekly off the 13-week bill auction and trades on an exchange. VUSXX is Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund, which can hold Treasury securities and repurchase agreements fully collateralized by Treasuries. It seeks a stable $1 price and carries an investment minimum. Repo exposure, wrapper, access and how quickly the yield follows bill rates differ.
Projections assume the current yield and share price remain constant. Actual results will vary.
Total returns
100% reinvested · ex-date convention. Period returns use this fixed assumption, independent of chart settings. YTD and 1Y are cumulative period returns; 3Y, 5Y, and 10Y are annualized. The shared Since-start window is annualized only when it covers at least one year.
USFR has outpaced VUSXX over the trailing twelve months, posting a 4.05% total return against 2.82%. The lead holds up over 10 years too: USFR has compounded at 2.55% a year, against 2.35% for VUSXX. USFR has been the steadier holding, though — annualized volatility of 0.3% against 1.2% for VUSXX. Figures are total returns: price change plus every distribution reinvested.
Total return and risk statistics by fund. Each row is one fund; each column is one period or statistic.
Total return with all distributions reinvested on the ex-dividend date (a modeling convention, not the cash-settlement date), split-adjusted, as of October 12, 2026. YTD and 1Y are cumulative period returns; 3Y, 5Y, and 10Y are annualized. The shared Since-start window is annualized only when it covers at least one year. “Since Feb 2014” measures every fund from February 4, 2014 — the start of shared available history — so all funds share one comparison window. Volatility is the annualized standard deviation of daily total returns over the trailing 3 years. Sharpe and Sortino divide the annualized return in excess of the risk-free rate by, respectively, that volatility and the downside deviation (both over the trailing 3 years) — higher is better. Max drawdown is the largest peak-to-trough total-return decline over the same window — shallower is better.
Side-by-side snapshot
Side-by-side snapshot. Each row is one metric;
each column is one fund.
Track the performance of U.S. Treasury floating-rate notes (FRNs).
Seeks to provide current income while maintaining liquidity and a stable share price of $1. Invests at least 99.5% of total assets in cash, U.S. Treasury securities, and/or repurchase agreements collateralized solely by U.S. Treasury securities. The Treasury-focused mandate maximizes the share of income eligible for state and local income tax exemption.
Bottom lineUSFR and VUSXX are nearly interchangeable — both offer very similar floating rate treasury exposure with very similar cost and risk. The clearest tie-breaker is cost: VUSXX is cheaper at 0.07% vs 0.15%.
USFR vs VUSXX: Floating Rate or Treasury Money Fund?
USFR holds U.S. Treasury floating rate notes whose coupons reset weekly off the 13-week bill auction and trades on an exchange. VUSXX is Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund, which can hold Treasury securities and repurchase agreements fully collateralized by Treasuries. It seeks a stable $1 price and carries an investment minimum. Repo exposure, wrapper, access and how quickly the yield follows bill rates differ.
USFR
VUSXX
Approach
Treasury floating rate note ETF
Treasury money market mutual fund
Risk review
Market price and bid-ask spread; weekly coupon resets
Stable price is an objective, not a guarantee; repo exposure and fund minimums
ETFs and AUM reflect what Dividend Vision tracks — the issuer's full lineup may be larger.
WisdomTree is known for developing thematic and factor-based ETFs that go beyond traditional market-cap weighting approaches. The issuer maintains a broad lineup spanning dividend and income strategies, international equities, commodities, bonds, digital assets, and specialized thematic areas like megatrends and alternatives. WisdomTree's diverse fund family appeals to investors seeking both traditional income exposure and more specialized strategies, with popular tickers across equity, fixed income, and alternative asset classes.
See our curated list of related YouTube videos on USFR.
USFR holds U.S. Treasury floating rate notes whose coupons reset weekly off the 13-week bill auction and trades on an exchange. VUSXX is Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund, which can hold Treasury securities and repurchase agreements fully collateralized by Treasuries. It seeks a stable $1 price and carries an investment minimum. Repo exposure, wrapper, access and how quickly the yield follows bill rates differ.
Both follow short-term rates down; the timing differs by days, not months. USFR's coupons reset weekly to the latest bill auction, so a cut reaches its income within about a week. VUSXX rolls its holdings continuously and its 7-day yield drifts down as higher-yielding paper matures. Neither locks in a rate, which is the trade-off for a price that barely moves. If you want to hold a rate for longer, that is a different product, such as a short Treasury ETF with a fixed maturity ladder.
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A floating rate note changes its coupon on a schedule, so the fund's income steps to the new rate each week. A money fund changes its yield by replacing maturing bills with new ones, so its income slides rather than steps. Over a quarter the two paths land in nearly the same place; over a week of rapid rate moves the floating rate note is the quicker follower in either direction.
Current metrics use the dated snapshot above. Distributions can vary and may include return of capital; a distribution rate is not an expected total return.
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Frequently asked questions
Is USFR or VUSXX better when rates are falling?
Both follow short-term rates down; the timing differs by days, not months. USFR's coupons reset weekly to the latest bill auction, so a cut reaches its income within about a week. VUSXX rolls its holdings continuously and its 7-day yield drifts down as higher-yielding paper matures. Neither locks in a rate, which is the trade-off for a price that barely moves. If you want to hold a rate for longer, that is a different product, such as a short Treasury ETF with a fixed maturity ladder.
How should I compare risk and ownership costs?
Compare current expense ratios on the issuer pages; both are low and already reflected in the published yields. USFR adds a bid-ask spread per trade and settles the next business day. VUSXX has a purchase minimum and mutual-fund order cutoffs but no spread. Direct Treasury interest is generally exempt from state income tax; Treasury-backed repo income generally is not. Check each fund's annual eligible-income percentage and your state's rules.
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