1) Expense ratio (TER)
TER is the headline annual fee. Compare peers tracking the same index, but do not confuse low cost with low risk — a cheap levered product can still wipe out months of gains in a day.
2) Liquidity and tradability
Look at average volume, spreads, and assets under management. Illiquid ETFs can still be valid for long horizons, but your entry and exit costs may dominate short holding periods.
3) Tracking difference and methodology
How faithfully does the fund deliver index returns after fees, sampling, and securities lending? Read the index methodology: float adjustments, capping rules, and rebalance frequency.
4) Portfolio concentration
Top-10 weight, sector and country skew, and single-name dominance (common in cap-weighted tech-heavy indices). “Passive” does not mean “balanced.”
5–7) Distributions, FX, and structure
Understand dividend vs accumulation share classes where applicable. Map currency of exposure vs currency of listing. For non-physical replication, read swap and collateral disclosures.
Cognitor does not replace this checklist — it adds six independent specialist lenses and five SENIOR verdicts on the monitored 40 US-listed ETFs so you can see where analysis agrees and where it splits. General information only.