What Is BND? Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund
Short answer
BND is Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund, an ETF that tracks Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index at a 0.03% expense ratio. Holds thousands of US investment-grade bonds (Treasuries, agency, and corporate) across maturities, making it a one-fund core bond allocation. It adds ballast and income to an equity portfolio at a 0.03% fee, with price sensitivity to interest rates.
BND is issued by Vanguard and tracks Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index. It charges a 0.03% expense ratio, holds approximately ~$394.4 billion in assets under management, yields about ~3.94%, and launched in April 2007.
What is BND?
BND is Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund, an ETF that tracks Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index at a 0.03% expense ratio. Holds thousands of US investment-grade bonds (Treasuries, agency, and corporate) across maturities, making it a one-fund core bond allocation. It adds ballast and income to an equity portfolio at a 0.03% fee, with price sensitivity to interest rates.
BND is issued by Vanguard and tracks Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, so a single ticker gives you the whole basket of underlying holdings weighted by the index's methodology rather than by any active stock-picking.
BND holdings: what's actually inside
BND does not hold a basket of individual stocks. It gets its exposure synthetically, through derivatives such as swaps and futures rather than by owning the underlying shares, so there is no conventional top-10 equity holdings list. See the description above for what BND actually tracks and how that exposure is built.
The bottom line on BND
BND gives you Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index exposure in one ticker at a 0.03% expense ratio. Most investors use it as a core holding and layer more concentrated thematic baskets on top.
More on BND
Whether BND is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is BND a buy?
BND yields ~3.94% as of mid-2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see BND dividend: yield and schedule.
AGG and BND both track the total US investment-grade bond market with very similar holdings and the same 0.03% fee, so their returns track closely. The choice is really iShares (BlackRock) versus Vanguard; either works as a one-fund core bond allocation. Read the full side-by-side in AGG vs BND.
TLT holds only long-dated (20+ year) Treasuries, so it is far more sensitive to interest rates than BND, which spreads across the whole investment-grade market at shorter average maturity. TLT is a concentrated rate and recession bet; BND is a diversified, steadier core bond holding. Read the full side-by-side in TLT vs BND.
Build a portfolio around BND with Walnut
Use BND as your core holding, then let Walnut's AI propose thematic satellites: AI infrastructure, dividend growth, clean energy, whatever you believe in. Connect your broker, build the basket in conversation, track it as one unit.
FAQ
What is BND's ticker symbol?
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BND, Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund. Issued by Vanguard; tracks Bloomberg US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index. Trades during US market hours, available at every major US brokerage.
What is BND's expense ratio?
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0.03% as of mid-2026.
What are BND's top holdings?
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Top holdings as of mid-2026: and others. See the full holdings table above.
How can I invest in BND through Walnut?
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Walnut isn't a broker. Connect a brokerage and Walnut sits on top to help you build and track thematic baskets. BND can be a constituent alongside individual stocks.
How do I compare BND to similar ETFs?
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Put a few fields side by side: the expense ratio (fees compound over decades), the index or strategy it tracks, the top holdings and how much they overlap with what you already own, the dividend yield, and the AUM, liquidity, and bid-ask spread that affect trading costs. For index funds, tracking error (how closely it follows its index) and tax efficiency matter too. BND's figures are above; the full method is in Walnut's guide on how to compare ETFs.
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Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Holdings weights and fund statistics on this page are approximations stamped to mid-2026; verify current figures against Vanguard's fund page or your broker before investing.