Short answer: Most index funds don’t charge a sales load, and index ETFs don’t charge one at all, but some index mutual funds still do. In the SEC’s fund data (2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2), 57 index fund share classes charged a front-end load of up to 5.75%, including a dozen share classes of plain S&P 500 funds.
Most people who buy index funds never pay a sales commission. The big low-cost fund families dropped them long ago, and ETFs don’t charge them at all. But “most” isn’t “all.” Some index funds still take a cut of your money before it’s invested, up to 5.75% of every dollar.
We went through the fee tables that index funds file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to find out exactly which ones still charge a front-end sales load, how much, and what it costs you over time.
The short version: 57 share classes of 56 index funds charge a front-end load, including 12 share classes of plain S&P 500 index funds. None of them is an ETF. And in every case, a no-load way to own a very similar index exists.
What a sales load is
A sales load is a commission paid when you buy or sell certain mutual fund shares. It goes mainly to the broker or adviser who sold you the fund, not to the fund itself.
The SEC’s investor education site explains the most common type plainly: “A front-end sales load, also called a front-end load or front-end sales charge, is an upfront fee investors pay when they buy mutual fund shares.” And, importantly: “A front-end sales load is deducted from the purchase and reduces the amount available to buy fund shares” (Investor.gov).
There are two main kinds:
- Front-end loads, usually on Class A shares. They’re taken from your purchase when you buy.
- Deferred sales charges (often called back-end loads or CDSCs), usually on Class C shares. You pay them if you sell within a set period, often the first year.
Loads are separate from the expense ratio. A fund’s expense ratio is charged every year on your balance; a front-end load is charged once, up front, on what you put in. (Our guide to expense ratios explains what the yearly figure does and doesn’t include.)
How we found them
We used two SEC data sets:
- Form N-CEN, the annual report every registered fund files, to identify which funds say they are index funds.
- The Mutual Fund Prospectus Risk/Return Summary data sets, which contain the fee table from each fund’s prospectus, share class by share class, including the “Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases” line.
We combined four quarters of filings (the third quarter of 2025 through the second quarter of 2026), so each fund’s most recent prospectus is included once. Money market funds were excluded. The full method is on our Editorial Methodology page, and the fund-level census behind it is in our article on how many index funds there are.
That gave us fee data for 2,773 share classes of 2,174 index funds.
The headline numbers
- 57 index fund share classes, in 56 funds, charge a front-end sales load. That’s about 2% of all index fund share classes.
- Most index share classes don’t even have a load line in their fee table, because they’re ETFs or no-load funds. Among the 535 index share classes whose fee table does include a sales-load line, 57 (about 11%) charge one. For non-index funds, the same figure is about 20% (2,635 of 13,460 share classes).
- No index ETF charges a sales load.
- Loads range from 1.00% to 5.75%. The most common levels are 4.75% (14 classes), 5.25% (13) and 5.75% (13).
- 25 index share classes charge a deferred sales charge, typically 1% if you sell within the first year.
- Loaded classes also tend to cost more every year. Their median expense ratio is 0.62%, against 0.29% for index share classes with no load and no 12b-1 fee.
Who still charges them
The loaded share classes fall into three rough groups.
1. Plain market index funds sold through brokers
These track well-known indexes, like the S&P 500, the broad U.S. market, international stocks or U.S. bonds, and their Class A (or similar) shares carry a load. They’re mostly sold through brokers and advisers who are paid from that load.
Twelve of them are plain S&P 500 index funds, from Nationwide, Invesco, MassMutual, iShares, JPMorgan, State Street, DWS, Allspring, Victory, Principal and New York Life (NYLI). Others track broader or different markets: Nuveen’s Equity Index, Emerging Markets Equity Index and Bond Index funds; Nationwide’s Mid Cap, Small Cap, International and Bond index funds; and iShares’ Investor P shares of its Russell 2000, MSCI EAFE, U.S. Aggregate Bond and Municipal Bond index funds.
This is the group where the load buys you least. The same indexes are available, often from the same fund company, in no-load share classes or as ETFs costing a few hundredths of a percent a year.
2. Screened and values-based index funds
Calvert’s Responsible Index funds (4.75% loads) and Praxis’s index funds (5.25%) track indexes that screen companies on environmental, social or faith-based criteria. Their Class A shares carry loads. For investors who want those specific screens, the choice of index matters more, but the load is still worth checking: both families also offer share classes without a front-end load for some investors.
3. Strategy, leveraged and specialty funds
Rydex’s 2x and inverse strategy funds (4.75%), Vest’s buffer and target-income funds (5.75%), Donoghue Forlines’ momentum and dividend funds (5.00%), a commodity index fund and a lifestyle fund of funds also report themselves as index funds and charge loads. These are complex products with expense ratios well above 1% in many cases. The load is only one of their costs.
What a load really costs you
It’s bigger than it looks
Loads are quoted as a percentage of the “offering price,” which includes the load itself. So a 5.75% load on a $10,000 purchase means $575 goes to the sales charge and $9,425 is invested. Measured against the money that actually gets invested, that’s a 6.1% cost, before the fund has done anything.
It compounds
The $575 doesn’t just disappear once. It also never grows. Here’s a hypothetical example: $10,000 invested once, earning 7% a year before costs, in two S&P 500 index funds:
| Nationwide S&P 500 Index Fund, Class A | Fidelity 500 Index Fund | |
|---|---|---|
| Front-end load | 5.75% | None |
| Expense ratio | 0.57% | 0.015% |
| Amount invested on day one | $9,425 | $10,000 |
| Value after 10 years | about $17,600 | about $19,600 |
| Value after 30 years | about $61,100 | about $75,800 |
The gap after 30 years is roughly $14,700, on the same index. The 7% is an assumption for illustration, not a forecast, and the example ignores any load discount you might qualify for (more on that below). Fee figures come from each fund’s prospectus as filed with the SEC.
And there’s often a 12b-1 fee on top
Almost every loaded index share class in our list also charges a 12b-1 fee, usually 0.25% a year, which pays for ongoing distribution and service. That’s part of why their expense ratios run higher. Our analysis of S&P 500 index fund fees shows how much share classes of the same fund can differ.
Breakpoints and waivers: how some investors pay less
Loads aren’t always charged in full. Two things can reduce or remove them:
- Breakpoints. Investor.gov explains that “the investment levels required to obtain a reduced sales load are commonly referred to as breakpoints” (Investor.gov). FINRA, the brokerage industry’s self-regulatory body, gives a typical example: “a mutual fund might charge a front-end load of 5.75 percent for share purchases of less than $50,000, but reduce the load to 4.50 percent for investments between $50,000 and $99,999, and further reduce or eliminate the load for larger investments” (FINRA).
- Waivers. Many funds waive the load for purchases through retirement plans, fee-based advisory accounts or certain other programs. The prospectus lists who qualifies.
If you’re being sold a loaded share class, it’s worth asking whether you qualify for a breakpoint or a waiver, and whether a no-load class of the same fund is available to you. Brokers are expected to apply breakpoints you’re entitled to, but you may need to tell them about other accounts that count toward the discount.
Why loads still exist
If loads are so costly, why do some index funds still charge them? Mostly because of how the funds are sold. A load is one of the ways a broker or financial professional gets paid for recommending and selling a fund. Fund companies that distribute through brokers offer loaded share classes so those intermediaries are compensated, and no-load or institutional classes for other channels, like retirement plans and fee-based advisory accounts.
For some investors, that arrangement comes with something they value: a person who helps them decide how much to invest, in what, and keeps them from panic-selling in a downturn. That help can be worth paying for. But it’s worth separating the two decisions. You can pay for advice directly, for example through a flat or hourly fee, and still buy no-load index funds. With an index fund, whose holdings are set by the index, the load doesn’t buy better management of the portfolio. It pays for the sale.
How to spot a load before you buy
- Look at the top of the fee table. Every mutual fund’s summary prospectus starts with “Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment).” The first line is “Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases.” If it says “None,” there’s no front-end load.
- Check the share class letter. Class A shares often carry front-end loads, and Class C shares often carry deferred charges. Classes labeled “Investor,” “Admiral,” “Institutional” or with no letter usually don’t, though names vary.
- Ask how the person selling you the fund is paid. A load is how many brokers are compensated. That’s not wrong in itself, but you should know what you’re paying for.
- Compare against a no-load version. For any broad index, there’s almost always a no-load mutual fund or an ETF tracking the same or a very similar index.
Common questions
Do index ETFs charge sales loads? No. You buy an ETF on a stock exchange through a brokerage account, and none of the index ETFs in our data charges a front-end load. Loads show up in some share classes of index mutual funds, usually the ones sold through brokers and advisers.
How much does a 5.75% load cost in dollars? On a $10,000 purchase, a 5.75% front-end load takes $575 before anything is invested, so only $9,425 goes to work. A no-load fund tracking the same index would invest the full $10,000 from day one.
Can I avoid a load on a fund that charges one? Sometimes. Breakpoints reduce the load on larger purchases, and many funds waive it for retirement plans or fee-based advisory accounts. The prospectus lists who qualifies. It’s also worth asking whether a no-load share class of the same fund is available to you.
The bottom line
Front-end loads are rare among index funds, and absent from index ETFs. But they haven’t disappeared: 56 index funds still charge one, including a dozen share classes of plain S&P 500 funds, often with a higher yearly expense ratio on top. For an index fund, where the portfolio is set by the index, a load buys the investor very little. Check the first line of the fee table before you buy.
This article is general information based on public filings, not personal advice. Fees, breakpoints and waivers vary by fund and change over time; always read the current prospectus. See our Financial Disclaimer.
Every index fund share class that charges a front-end load
Sorted from the highest load to the lowest. Expense ratios are net of any fee waivers in effect, as stated in each fund’s prospectus.
| Fund | Share class | Ticker | Max. front load | Expense ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuveen Equity Index Fund | Class A | TINRX | 5.75% | 0.36% |
| Allspring Index Fund | Class A | WFILX | 5.75% | 0.44% |
| Nuveen Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund | Class A | TEQKX | 5.75% | 0.51% |
| Nationwide S&P 500 Index Fund | Class A | GRMAX | 5.75% | 0.57% |
| Nationwide NYSE Arca Tech 100 Index Fund | Class A | NWJCX | 5.75% | 0.64% |
| Nationwide Mid Cap Market Index Fund | Class A | GMXAX | 5.75% | 0.65% |
| Nationwide Small Cap Index Fund | Class A | GMRAX | 5.75% | 0.67% |
| Nationwide International Index Fund | Class A | GIIAX | 5.75% | 0.69% |
| Nuveen Lifestyle Growth Fund | Class A | TSGLX | 5.75% | 0.89% |
| CM Commodity Index Fund | Class A | CMCAX | 5.75% | 0.95% |
| Vest US Large Cap 10% Buffer Strategies | Class A | BUAGX | 5.75% | 1.20% |
| Vest US Large Cap 20% Buffer Strategies | Class A | ENGAX | 5.75% | 1.20% |
| Vest S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Target Income Fund | Class A | KNGAX | 5.75% | 1.20% |
| Invesco Equally-Weighted S&P 500 Fund | Class A | VADAX | 5.50% | 0.53% |
| Invesco S&P 500 Index Fund | Class A | SPIAX | 5.50% | 0.54% |
| MassMutual S&P 500 Index Fund | Class A | MMFFX | 5.50% | 0.74% |
| iShares MSCI EAFE International Index Fund | Investor P | BTMPX | 5.25% | 0.34% |
| iShares S&P 500 Index Fund | Investor P | BSPPX | 5.25% | 0.35% |
| iShares Russell 2000 Small-Cap Index Fund | Investor P | BDBPX | 5.25% | 0.37% |
| JPMorgan Equity Index Fund | Class A | OGEAX | 5.25% | 0.45% |
| State Street Equity 500 Index Fund | Class A | SSSVX | 5.25% | 0.47% |
| State Street Small/Mid Cap Equity Index Fund | Class A | SSMJX | 5.25% | 0.50% |
| State Street Global All Cap Equity ex-U.S. Index Fund | Class A | SSGHX | 5.25% | 0.52% |
| Praxis Growth Index Fund | Class A | MGNDX | 5.25% | 0.62% |
| Praxis Value Index Fund | Class A | MVIAX | 5.25% | 0.69% |
| Praxis Small Cap Index Fund | Class A | MMSCX | 5.25% | 0.94% |
| Praxis International Index Fund | Class A | MPLAX | 5.25% | 0.94% |
| Calvert Global Energy Solutions Fund | Class A | CGAEX | 5.25% | 1.24% |
| Calvert Global Water Fund | Class A | CFWAX | 5.25% | 1.24% |
| Donoghue Forlines Dividend Fund | Class A | PWDAX | 5.00% | 1.88% |
| Donoghue Forlines Momentum Fund | Class A | MOJAX | 5.00% | 2.25% |
| Calvert U.S. Large Cap Core Responsible Index Fund | Class A | CSXAX | 4.75% | 0.49% |
| Calvert U.S. Large Cap Growth Responsible Index Fund | Class A | CGJAX | 4.75% | 0.49% |
| Calvert U.S. Large Cap Value Responsible Index Fund | Class A | CFJAX | 4.75% | 0.49% |
| Calvert U.S. Mid Cap Core Responsible Index Fund | Class A | CMJAX | 4.75% | 0.49% |
| Calvert International Responsible Index Fund | Class A | CDHAX | 4.75% | 0.54% |
| Rydex Commodities Strategy Fund | Class A | RYMEX | 4.75% | 1.72% |
| Rydex S&P 500 2x Strategy Fund | Class A | RYTTX | 4.75% | 1.74% |
| Rydex NASDAQ-100 2x Strategy Fund | Class A | RYVLX | 4.75% | 1.74% |
| Rydex Inverse Dow 2x Strategy Fund | Class A | RYIDX | 4.75% | 1.75% |
| Rydex Inverse Russell 2000 2x Strategy Fund | Class A | RYIUX | 4.75% | 1.75% |
| Rydex Inverse S&P 500 2x Strategy Fund | Class A | RYTMX | 4.75% | 1.77% |
| Rydex Dow 2x Strategy Fund | Class A | RYLDX | 4.75% | 1.77% |
| Rydex Russell 2000 2x Strategy Fund | Class A | RYRUX | 4.75% | 1.84% |
| Rydex Inverse NASDAQ-100 2x Strategy Fund | Class A | RYVTX | 4.75% | 1.90% |
| DWS S&P 500 Index Fund | Class A | SXPAX | 4.50% | 0.54% |
| iShares U.S. Aggregate Bond Index Fund | Investor P | BMOPX | 4.00% | 0.35% |
| iShares Municipal Bond Index Fund | Investor P | BIDPX | 4.00% | 0.50% |
| Nuveen Bond Index Fund | Class A | TBILX | 3.75% | 0.44% |
| State Street Aggregate Bond Index Fund | Class A | SSFCX | 3.75% | 0.47% |
| Nuveen Short Term Bond Index Fund | Class A | TRSHX | 2.50% | 0.45% |
| Victory S&P 500 Index Fund | Class A | MUXAX | 2.25% | 0.53% |
| Nationwide Bond Index Fund | Class A | GBIAX | 2.25% | 0.62% |
| Victory Nasdaq-100 Index Fund | Class A | UANQX | 2.25% | 0.70% |
| Principal LargeCap S&P 500 Index Fund | Class A | PLSAX | 1.50% | 0.31% |
| NYLI S&P 500 Index Fund | Class A | MSXAX | 1.50% | 0.51% |
| NYLI S&P 500 Index Fund | Investor Class | MYSPX | 1.00% | 0.79% |
Sources and data notes
- SEC, Mutual Fund Prospectus Risk/Return Summary data sets, 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2: maximum front-end and deferred sales charges, 12b-1 fees and expense ratios by share class, from each fund’s most recent prospectus filing in the period.
- SEC, Form N-CEN data sets, 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2: which funds report themselves as index funds, ETF and money market status, and share class tickers.
- Fund prospectuses on SEC EDGAR, used to verify the loads and expense ratios quoted in the text, including Nationwide S&P 500 Index Fund (March 2, 2026), Fidelity 500 Index Fund (April 2026), Nuveen Equity Index Fund (February 27, 2026), iShares S&P 500 Index Fund (April 30, 2026), State Street Equity 500 Index Fund (April 30, 2026), Calvert U.S. Large-Cap Core Responsible Index Fund (February 1, 2026), Praxis Small Cap Index Fund (April 30, 2026), Rydex S&P 500 2x Strategy Fund (August 1, 2025), Invesco S&P 500 Index Fund (December 19, 2025), JPMorgan Equity Index Fund (November 1, 2025), MassMutual S&P 500 Index Fund (February 1, 2026) and Victory Nasdaq-100 Index Fund (September 1, 2025). Some of these funds have filed newer prospectuses since; always check the current one.
- SEC, Investor.gov, glossary: Front-end Sales Load and Breakpoint Discounts.
- FINRA, Breakpoints.
- The dollar example is our own calculation: a one-time $10,000 investment at a hypothetical 7% annual return before costs, minus each fund’s expense ratio, with the full front-end load deducted at purchase.
Data as of the 2026 Q2 SEC data sets. Sources checked on September 29, 2026.