Finest U.S. fairness ETFs for Canadian buyers 2026

First, you’ll be able to go for a U.S. fairness fund that trades in Canada or one buying and selling within the U.S. Many Canadian buyers want the simplicity of Canadian listings that decrease transaction prices (low brokerage commissions and no foreign money change charges) and make tax reporting simple. However know that these ETFs are robotically withholding a 15% tax in your dividends on behalf of the U.S. Inner Income Service. You may dodge that withholding tax in your RRSP, RRIF, or LIRA (that are acknowledged as tax shelters by the IRS) by holding a U.S.-listed ETF. Funds that commerce stateside additionally are likely to have decrease MERs.

Must you determine to purchase Canadian, you then have the selection of going hedged into Canadian {dollars} or unhedged—charges are usually the identical. Some buyers would favor to keep away from the additional volatility of foreign money fluctuations, whereas others think about {that a} type of portfolio diversification and due to this fact fascinating. Additional, yow will discover Canadian-listed U.S. fairness funds denominated in U.S. {dollars}.

Lastly, most index funds are cap-weighted, which today means a excessive focus of mega-capitalization expertise or technology-enabled shares. For the next MER, nevertheless, you may get an equal-weighted tackle the S&P 500 or different indices that, up to now in 2026, has outperformed the standard funds.

Our 2026 picks for greatest U.S. fairness ETFs

Given the choices, our judging panel nominated fairly just a few funds with completely different attributes. The consensus, nevertheless, favoured unhedged and total-market funds that captured publicity to shares past the S&P 500. As panellist Sam Rook put it, “the huge quantity of analysis exhibits that smaller corporations are likely to outperform over time.” Vanguard’s Complete Inventory Market ETF (VTI) took the highest prize. It is a U.S.-listed fund that by way of economic system of scale presents publicity to greater than 3,600 shares for a miniscule 0.03% MER.

For buyers preferring a Canadian-listed choice, the Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF (VFV) took second place. The fund is a straight-up, unhedged tackle the world’s main inventory index. Panellist Mark Seed characterised VFV as “easy and sensible… With VFV, DIY buyers don’t want to fret about Canadian/U.S.-dollar foreign money conversions and since that is unhedged, you’ll be able to make the most of foreign money diversification. Hedging is imperfect in follow anyhow.”

In third place we had a four-way tie, proof that this class is very aggressive and effectively equipped with good choices. They included XUU and XUS from iShares Canada and ITOT from iShares stateside, in addition to VUN from Vanguard Canada. Apart from XUS, all of them look past the S&P 500 to some smaller-cap shares as effectively. For the next MER, VUN provides the identical very broad publicity as VTI; the others, nonetheless providing large publicity, are available in at lower than 0.1% in annual charges.

XUU, panellist Michelle Roberston opined, “might be essentially the most well-rounded U.S. fairness ETF for a Canadian investor who desires total-market publicity, not simply the S&P 500.”

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About Michael McCullough

Michael is a monetary author and editor in Duncan, B.C. He’s a former managing editor of Canadian Enterprise and editorial director of Canada Large Media. He additionally writes for The Globe and Mail and BCBusiness.