ETF comparison
AAXJ vs IEFA
International Emerging vs International Developed.
iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan ETF · iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF
Holdings overlap
41 positions appear in both funds. Buying equal dollars of AAXJ and IEFA would leave roughly 3.2% of each dollar exposed to the same underlying securities.
Unmatched is the part of a fund's weight the other fund doesn't match: names only it holds, plus any extra weight it puts in names both funds hold.
Side by side
Sub-score comparison
Tracking quality isn't part of the composite — see what we don't score for why.
Cost difference
IEFA is 65 bps cheaper than AAXJ. On a $100,000 position that's about $650/yr more in fees for AAXJ.
Fee figure is the annual expense charged on $100,000. To see how the gap compounds over a multi-decade holding period, open the cost calculator pre-filled with AAXJ vs IEFA.
Top shared holdings
41 shared in total| # | Holding | In AAXJ | In IEFA | Overlap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DBS GROUP HOLDINGS LTD | 1.12% | 0.46% | 0.46% |
| 2 | AIA Group Limited | 0.99% | 0.41% | 0.41% |
| 3 | OVERSEA-CHINESE BANKING CORPORATION LIMITED | 0.70% | 0.29% | 0.29% |
| 4 | Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited | 0.58% | 0.21% | 0.21% |
| 5 | UNITED OVERSEAS BANK LIMITED | 0.38% | 0.16% | 0.16% |
| 6 | SEA LIMITED | 0.38% | 0.16% | 0.16% |
| 7 | SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED | 0.24% | 0.10% | 0.10% |
| 8 | CK HUTCHISON HOLDINGS LIMITED | 0.24% | 0.10% | 0.10% |
| 9 | BOC HONG KONG (HOLDINGS) LIMITED | 0.23% | 0.10% | 0.10% |
| 10 | TECHTRONIC INDUSTRIES COMPANY LIMITED | 0.23% | 0.09% | 0.09% |
| 11 | SUN HUNG KAI PROPERTIES LIMITED | 0.18% | 0.08% | 0.08% |
| 12 | CLP HOLDINGS LIMITED | 0.15% | 0.06% | 0.06% |
Only in AAXJ
899 total- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 17.21%
- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 7.68%
- SK hynix Inc. 5.93%
- Tencent Holdings Limited 3.55%
- Alibaba Group Holding Limited 2.41%
- MediaTek Inc. 1.46%
- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.95%
- CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORPORATION 0.94%
- DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC. 0.90%
- HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 0.89%
Only in IEFA
2,572 total- ASML Holding N.V. 2.50%
- HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 1.42%
- Roche Holding AG 1.20%
- Novartis AG 1.12%
- Nestle S.A. 1.00%
- ASTRAZENECA PLC 1.00%
- SHELL PLC 1.00%
- Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 0.95%
- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.93%
- BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.83%
Related comparisons
More comparisons with AAXJ
More comparisons with IEFA
- IEFA vs EWH · iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF 1.6%
- IEFA vs EWS · iShares MSCI Singapore ETF 1.6%
- IEFA vs SPEM · State Street SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF 0.2%
- IEFA vs PXH · Invesco RAFI Emerging Markets ETF 0.1%
- IEFA vs FNDE · Schwab Fundamental Emerging Markets Equity ETF 0.1%
- IEFA vs VWO · Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets Index Fund ETF Shares 0.0%
Percentages are holdings overlap with the named fund.
Open AAXJ or IEFA at a brokerage
Both funds trade commission-free at major US brokerages.
Affiliate links — opening an account through these earns PlainIndex a one-time referral. Scoring is computed before any affiliate consideration; see our methodology and funding disclosure.
Holdings overlap is the sum of min(weight_a, weight_b) over positions
matched on ISIN (CUSIP fallback). Methodology: see
/methodology/.
Comparing two funds doesn't endorse swapping one for the other. Tax-lot history, account type, and personal goals matter — PlainIndex publishes data and methodology, not investment advice.