iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

What this fund is

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) from iShares, traded under the ticker QUAL (ISIN US46432F3394). In a single purchase you get a diversified basket of holdings rather than a stake in just one business. In plain terms it is about owning small slices of companies, so you share in their growth when they do well — and their falls when they don't, spread across its target market. It passively tracks the MSCI USA index — mirroring that market instead of paying a manager to pick winners, which keeps costs low.

It is commonly used to tilt a portfolio towards one market, usually alongside broader, more global funds rather than on its own. Its ongoing charge (TER) is 0.15% a year — about €15 a year on a €10,000 holding, taken automatically from the fund. It holds the underlying investments directly (physical replication). Its price has swung about 12.2% over the past year — a gauge of how much the value moves, not a judgement of quality.

It launched in 2013. As with any investment, its value can go down as well as up, and past performance is not a guide to future results. (Fund data sourced from iShares.)