T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth ETF

TCHP

Market cap $1.72B

A new year brings a fresh opportunity to plan ahead and think long term about portfolios. Especially with so much uncertainty circling above, investors may be searching for solutions that offer consistency and durability.

The T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth ETF (TCHP) offers concentrated exposure to mega-cap tech and growth sectors, trading at a significant premium to the S&P 500. TCHP's portfolio emphasizes high-growth themes like AI, cloud, and the digital economy, with 68% in its top ten holdings and 76% in mega caps. While TCHP outperformed peers in recent years, its 5-year total return lags both the S&P 500 and its peer group average.

What do you really own when you invest in growth funds? Growth-oriented equities have been a big driver of portfolio performance, but how best should investors get exposure?

T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth ETF is an actively managed large-cap ETF aiming to outperform the S&P 500 via concentrated growth holdings. TCHP has recently matched its benchmark, with notable wins like CVNA, but overall performance has not consistently exceeded SPY, especially after fees. The ETF carries a 0.57% expense ratio, higher volatility (beta 1.07), and heavy tech exposure, making it similar to SPY but with less liquidity.

The active ETF story has been one of the most exciting market narratives in recent years, with actively managed funds proliferating and delivering for their investors at a high level. As more and more active funds accumulate longer track records, then, investors can start to identify those active ETFs that have displayed consistent outperformance.

The T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth ETF has significantly outperformed the S&P 500 recently due to heavy concentration in mega-cap growth stocks, but this amplifies risk significantly. The ETF's high exposure to tech and consumer cyclical sectors, combined with limited transparency and higher fees, increases potential volatility. TCHP's recent performance is labeled by T. Rowe Price as "highly unusual and unlikely to be sustained," signaling caution for new investors.

T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth ETF is an actively managed ETF focused on blue-chip, growth-oriented U.S. large caps, aiming to outperform the S&P 500. Historically, TCHP lagged its benchmark and charged higher fees, but recent performance since Liberation Day has been impressive, beating SPY by ~8%. The fund's managers have made strong, timely picks like CVNA and shifted to a more diversified, growth-focused portfolio, increasing investor interest and liquidity.

TCHP, an actively managed ETF by T. Rowe Price, aims to outperform the S&P 500 but has failed to generate alpha. The fund's portfolio closely resembles the S&P 500 with higher weights in stocks like NVDA, MSFT, and AMZN. TCHP has shown greater volatility and lower risk-adjusted returns compared to passive ETFs like SPY and VOO, and a high fee of 0.57%.

2024 was a strong year for active ETFs, with exciting new launches joining the fray and the category's AUM rising. Actively managed ETFs figure to play an even bigger role in 2025, too.

It's not often that ETFs cross major AUM thresholds, but when they do, those milestones stand out. Hitting a major AUM total, whether $100 million or $1 billion, can signify that a fund has entered into a new tier in the ETF ecosystem.