Will XEQT Ever Stock Split? What Unit Price Means for Canadian ETF Investors

My friend texted me last month asking if XEQT was “too expensive” at $35 a share. She was comparing it to a penny stock her coworker recommended — something trading at $0.80 that was “about to explode.” In her mind, buying 1,000 shares of an $0.80 stock was a better deal than buying 100 units of a $35 ETF. More shares equals more money when it goes up, right?

I’ve gotten some variation of this question more times than I can count. And honestly, I don’t blame anyone for thinking this way. You’d never walk into a bakery and say “I’ll take the $2 muffin because it’s a better deal than the $6 loaf of bread” without considering size or ingredients. But with stocks and ETFs, people confuse the price tag on an individual unit with the actual value of what they’re buying.

Let’s settle this once and for all: whether XEQT has ever split, whether it could, why the unit price doesn’t matter as much as you think, and what you should actually focus on instead.

1. Has XEQT Ever Stock Split?

No. XEQT (iShares Core Equity ETF Portfolio) has never undergone a stock split since its inception on August 7, 2019. When it launched, units traded at roughly $20 each, and as of mid-2026, the unit price sits in the mid-$30s range. That’s it. No splits, no reverse splits, no unit consolidations. Just steady, organic price appreciation driven by the growth of the ~9,000 global stocks it holds underneath.

For context, XEQT going from $20 to $35 represents roughly 75% growth (plus distributions along the way). That’s a solid return, but it’s not the kind of price escalation that typically triggers a split. Compare that to something like Shopify, which hit over $2,000 per share before doing a 10:1 split in 2022, or Amazon, which crossed $3,000 before its 20:1 split the same year.

At $35 a unit, XEQT is extremely accessible. You don’t need a split to make it affordable. But let’s dig into what a split actually is and why some funds do it.

2. How Do ETF Splits Actually Work?

An ETF split works the same way a stock split does, just with a few extra steps happening behind the scenes at the fund level.

Here’s the basic mechanics:

The announcement: The fund provider (BlackRock, in XEQT’s case) announces they’ll be splitting the ETF units at a specific ratio — 2:1, 3:1, etc. A 2:1 split is the most common.

The record date: BlackRock sets a date. If you hold units on that date, you’re eligible.

The split happens: Every unit you own is replaced by the split ratio. In a 2:1 split, your 100 units become 200 units. The unit price divides by the same ratio — $35 becomes $17.50.

Your total value stays the same: This is the part people miss. Before the split: 100 units x $35 = $3,500. After a 2:1 split: 200 units x $17.50 = $3,500. You didn’t gain a cent. You didn’t lose a cent. The pizza got cut into more slices, but it’s the same amount of pizza.

Under the hood, the fund’s Net Asset Value (NAV) per unit changes and the number of outstanding units increases, but as a retail investor, none of that affects you. You just wake up one morning, check your Wealthsimple account, and see twice as many units at half the price.

The key takeaway: a split is a cosmetic change, not a financial one. It’s like exchanging a $20 bill for two $10 bills. More pieces of paper, same wallet.

3. Why the Unit Price of XEQT Doesn’t Actually Matter

This is the part that trips up most beginners, so let me be really clear.

The unit price of an ETF tells you how much it costs to buy one unit right now. That’s it. It does NOT tell you whether the ETF is overvalued, how well it will perform, whether it’s “expensive” relative to peers, or what you’re actually getting for your money.

Concrete example: XEQT trades around $35. VEQT (Vanguard’s equivalent all-equity ETF) trades around $45. Does that mean VEQT is “more expensive”? No. Both give you a globally diversified portfolio of thousands of stocks. The unit price difference is just an artifact of how many units each fund issued at inception.

Think of it like two identical houses on the same street. One owner divides their house into 100 “shares” at $5,000 each. The other divides theirs into 500 “shares” at $1,000 each. The $1,000 shares aren’t cheaper — both houses are worth $500,000.

What actually determines your returns is your total dollars invested, not the number of units you own. If you invest $10,000 in XEQT and it returns 8% this year, you make $800. It doesn’t matter whether you bought 286 units at $35 or 571 units at $17.50 (post-split). The return on $10,000 is $800 either way.

Experienced investors think in terms of total amount invested, percentage return, MER, diversification, and time in the market. If you’re new to all of this, check out XEQT for Beginners — it covers the fundamentals of what you’re actually buying.

4. Before vs. After: A Hypothetical 2:1 XEQT Split

Let’s make this crystal clear with a side-by-side comparison. Imagine XEQT announces a 2:1 split tomorrow at a unit price of $35.

See the pattern? The only things that change are the number of units and the price per unit. Everything that actually matters — your total value, your returns, your costs, your diversification — stays exactly the same.

The distribution per unit gets halved, which can confuse people. “My dividend got cut!” No – you just have twice as many units each paying half the distribution. Same total payout.

5. When ETFs DO Split (Real Examples)

ETF splits aren’t common, but they do happen. Here are some notable examples from both Canadian and US markets:

Canadian examples:

• XIU (iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF): One of Canada’s oldest and largest ETFs, XIU has split multiple times over its history, including a 2:1 split. XIU’s unit price had climbed high enough that BlackRock decided a split would improve accessibility and trading liquidity.
• XIC (iShares Core S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF): Another iShares fund that has undergone a split to keep the unit price in a more retail-friendly range.

US examples:

• SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF): The granddaddy of all ETFs has never split, despite trading above $500 USD.
• Invesco QQQ: Trading above $500 USD and has also never split. High unit prices haven’t hurt demand.
• Various Vanguard ETFs: Vanguard has been reluctant to split, preferring to let fractional share capabilities handle accessibility.

The pattern: splits tend to happen when unit prices get into the hundreds or thousands of dollars, not at $35. Providers split ETFs to improve liquidity and accessibility for investors who can’t buy fractional shares. At XEQT’s current price, none of those concerns are pressing.

6. Could BlackRock Split XEQT?

Could they? Absolutely. BlackRock has the authority to split any of their iShares ETFs whenever they deem it appropriate. There’s nothing preventing them from announcing a 2:1 or 3:1 split of XEQT tomorrow.

Will they? Almost certainly not anytime soon. Here’s why:

The price is already low. At ~$35 per unit, XEQT is one of the most accessible ETFs on the TSX. Compare that to Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares at over $750,000 USD each.

Fractional shares exist now. Wealthsimple and several other Canadian brokerages offer fractional shares, which means you can buy $10 worth of XEQT even if one full unit costs $35. This eliminates the primary reason splits used to be necessary.

Splits create administrative costs. A split requires regulatory filings, prospectus updates, coordination with exchanges and market makers, and communications to unitholders. For a fund that doesn’t need one, it’s unnecessary paperwork.

No liquidity concerns. XEQT is one of the most traded ETFs on the TSX, with healthy daily volume and tight bid-ask spreads.

BlackRock’s track record. BlackRock/iShares splits ETFs selectively, usually when a unit price creates genuine barriers to investment. $35 isn’t that level.

If XEQT’s unit price ever climbed to $200 or $300 over the next couple of decades, then a split conversation might become relevant. But by then, fractional share platforms will likely be even more widespread, making the whole issue moot.

7. Fractional Shares Solve the “Too Expensive” Problem

If the reason you’re thinking about stock splits is that you want to invest less than $35 at a time, I have great news: you don’t need a split. You need fractional shares.

Fractional shares let you buy a portion of an ETF unit. Instead of needing $35 to buy one full unit of XEQT, you can invest any dollar amount you want:

• $5? You get approximately 0.14 units of XEQT.
• $20? You get approximately 0.57 units.
• $100? You get approximately 2.86 units.
• $500? You get approximately 14.29 units.

Every dollar is fully invested. No leftover cash sitting idle in your account because you didn’t have enough for one more full unit.

Where to buy fractional shares of XEQT in Canada:

Wealthsimple is the go-to platform for most Canadian retail investors buying XEQT, and they fully support fractional share purchases:

• No minimum investment: Start with literally $1
• Commission-free ETF trading: No fees to buy or sell XEQT
• Automatic fractional share purchases: Set up recurring buys for any dollar amount
• Available in TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, and non-registered accounts

The combination of fractional shares and commission-free trading effectively makes the unit price of XEQT irrelevant. Whether XEQT costs $35 or $350 per unit, you invest the same dollar amount either way. This is also why dollar-cost averaging works so well with fractional shares — you just invest your $50 or $100 or $500, and Wealthsimple handles the math.

8. The Psychology of Unit Price: Why $35 Feels “Expensive” and $17.50 Feels “Cheap”

Let me be honest about something: the reason you’re reading this article probably isn’t really about the mechanics of stock splits. It’s about a feeling. The feeling that $35 per unit is a lot of money, or that buying fewer units somehow means you’re investing less effectively.

This feeling has a name in behavioural finance: anchoring bias.

Anchoring bias is the tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information you encounter (the “anchor”) when making decisions. When you see that XEQT costs $35 per unit and a penny stock costs $0.80 per unit, your brain anchors on those numbers and makes a snap judgment: $0.80 is cheap, $35 is expensive.

But here’s the thing — you’re anchoring on the wrong number. The unit price is the least important number in investing. The important numbers are:

• Your total investment amount (how many dollars you’re putting in)
• The percentage return (how much your investment grows)
• The MER (how much you’re paying in fees)
• The diversification (how many stocks, countries, and sectors you’re exposed to)
• Your time horizon (how long you’ll stay invested)

There’s also a related cognitive bias called the unit bias — the tendency to think that one unit of something is the “right” amount. People feel better owning 1,000 shares of a $0.50 penny stock than 14 units of a $35 ETF, even though the first position is worth $500 and the second is worth $490 — and the ETF is vastly more diversified, lower-risk, and more likely to grow over time.

I fell for this myself when I first started investing. I bought a pile of cheap mining stocks because owning “lots of shares” felt more substantial than owning a handful of ETF units. Those mining stocks went to zero. My XEQT just kept growing. Expensive lesson in anchoring bias.

If you’re curious about other psychological traps that can derail your investing, I wrote about anchoring bias and XEQT in more detail.

9. What Would Actually Happen to Your Portfolio If XEQT Split Tomorrow?

Let me walk through a concrete scenario. Let’s say you currently hold 300 units of XEQT at $35 per unit across your TFSA and RRSP on Wealthsimple. Your total position is worth $10,500.

BlackRock announces a 2:1 split. Here’s exactly what happens:

The night before the split:

• You own 300 units
• Each unit is worth $35
• Total value: $10,500

The morning after the split:

• You now own 600 units
• Each unit is worth $17.50
• Total value: $10,500

What you need to do: Nothing. The split happens automatically. You don’t need to sell, buy, call your broker, or file paperwork. Your brokerage adjusts your holdings for you.

Tax implications: Zero. A stock split is not a taxable event in Canada. You didn’t dispose of any units or realize any gains. Your adjusted cost base (ACB) per unit gets divided by the split ratio, but your total ACB stays the same. If your total ACB was $9,000 before the split ($30 per unit x 300 units), it’s still $9,000 after ($15 per unit x 600 units).

Impact on returns, distributions, and DRIP: None. If XEQT would have returned 8% without a split, it returns 8% with a split. Your per-unit distribution gets halved, but you have twice as many units, so total payouts are identical. DRIP continues to work exactly the same way.

The bottom line: if XEQT split tomorrow, you would notice a cosmetic change in your brokerage account and nothing else. Your investing strategy, returns, and long-term wealth trajectory would be completely unaffected.

10. What ACTUALLY Matters More Than Unit Price

Now that we’ve established that stock splits are irrelevant to your investing outcomes, here’s what actually deserves your attention.

Management Expense Ratio (MER)

XEQT’s MER is 0.20%, which means you pay $2 per year for every $1,000 invested. This is one of the lowest MERs available for a globally diversified all-equity ETF in Canada. For comparison:

Over 30 years, the difference between a 0.20% MER and a 2.00% MER on a $500/month investment is staggering — potentially over $200,000 in lost returns. That’s real money. The unit price of the ETF? Doesn’t cost you a dime.

Diversification

XEQT holds approximately 9,000 stocks across 47 countries. That level of diversification protects you from any single company, industry, or country dragging down your portfolio. Whether you own those 9,000 stocks through 300 units at $35 or 600 units at $17.50 is completely irrelevant. The diversification is identical.

Contribution Consistency

The single biggest predictor of long-term investing success isn’t which ETF you pick, how low its MER is, or what its unit price is. It’s whether you actually invest consistently. Setting up automatic contributions — even $100 a month — and sticking with them through good markets and bad markets is worth more than any split, any fund switch, or any market timing strategy.

Here’s what consistent investing in XEQT looks like over time (assuming 8% average annual return):

None of those numbers change based on the unit price of XEQT. Whether the units cost $35 or $3.50, your $500/month buys $500 worth of global equity exposure, and compound growth does the rest.

Asset Allocation and Time in the Market

If you’re asking whether XEQT’s unit price is too high, you might be asking the wrong question. The more important question is: is 100% equities the right allocation for you? If you’re young with a long time horizon, XEQT makes a lot of sense. If you’re closer to retirement, you might want some bond exposure. That decision matters infinitely more than unit price.

And the earlier you start, the more compound growth works in your favour. Waiting six months because you’re “hoping XEQT drops to $30” or “waiting for a split” is almost always a losing strategy. Time in the market beats timing the market. I’ve written about this extensively — including the cost of waiting to invest.

11. Common Questions About XEQT and Stock Splits

“If a split doesn’t matter, why do companies do it?”

For individual stocks, splits can improve liquidity and make options contracts more accessible. There’s also a psychological effect — some retail investors are more likely to buy a stock that “looks cheap.” For ETFs specifically, splits are mainly about keeping the unit price accessible on platforms that don’t support fractional shares.

“Doesn’t a lower unit price mean more people will buy XEQT, driving the price up?”

ETFs don’t work like regular stocks in this way. An ETF’s price is driven by its Net Asset Value (NAV) — the value of the underlying stocks it holds. If more people buy XEQT, the fund creates new units to meet demand, keeping the price anchored to NAV. Increased demand doesn’t inflate the price the way it might for a regular stock.

“Should I wait for XEQT to split before buying?”

Absolutely not. XEQT has never split and may never split. Even if it does split someday, it won’t change your returns, your costs, or your diversification. Every day you spend waiting is a day your money isn’t growing. Use fractional shares if the unit price is a barrier.

“Are there any disadvantages to a split?”

For retail investors, no. A split might cause brief confusion if you don’t understand what happened, but that’s about it. For the fund provider, splits involve minor administrative costs. But for a typical Canadian buying XEQT in your TFSA? Splits are a non-event.

12. Final Verdict: Stop Worrying About Unit Price and Start Investing

Here’s the truth, distilled down to its essence:

XEQT has never split. It probably won’t split anytime soon. And even if it does, it won’t matter.

The unit price of XEQT is one of the least important factors in your investing success. What matters is:

1. That you start investing. Today, not next month, not after the next dip, not after a hypothetical split.
2. That you invest consistently. Set up automatic purchases and don’t stop.
3. That you keep costs low. XEQT’s 0.20% MER does this for you.
4. That you stay diversified. XEQT’s ~9,000 global holdings do this for you.
5. That you stay the course. Don’t panic sell, don’t chase trends, don’t compare yourself to your coworker’s penny stock picks.

As for my friend who thought XEQT was “too expensive” at $35? I walked her through everything in this article. She opened a Wealthsimple account, set up a $200/month automatic purchase of XEQT in her TFSA using fractional shares, and stopped worrying about unit prices entirely. Last I checked, she’s up 12% and hasn’t thought about stock splits since.

That coworker’s penny stock? Down 85%. But hey, she still owns a lot of shares.

This article is for educational purposes and does not constitute financial advice. XEQT is an investment product subject to market risk. Always consider your personal financial situation before investing. Returns discussed are hypothetical and based on historical averages — past performance does not guarantee future results.