ARKW vs XT

ARKWDARK Next Generation Internet ETF

XTAiShares Future Exponential Technologies ETF

In short

ARKW ARK's internet-native sibling to its flagship: a decade-old, actively managed, globally invested portfolio of next-generation internet companies. No index to hug, no closet benchmark, just a concentrated list picked by conviction.

XT Innovation, spread thin on purpose. XT holds roughly 200 global companies scored by Morningstar analysts for exposure to a handful of exponential tech themes, so no single moonshot carries the fund.

Stated mandate

ARKW The fund seeks long-term capital growth through an actively managed portfolio investing primarily in domestic and foreign equities connected to the next-generation-internet theme.

XT XT seeks to track an index of stocks from developed and emerging markets whose companies create or use exponential technologies. The strategy targets technologies with potential economic benefits, including the ability to displace older technologies or create new markets.

Why people hold it

• ARKW Genuinely active, not index-shaped: managers hand-pick next-generation internet names across US and foreign markets instead of tracking a benchmark.
• Trading since 2014, giving it a decade-plus operating history, rare for a fund built around a single technology story.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that stays one of the easier active thematic ETFs to get in and out of, despite how focused the portfolio is.

• XT Cheap for the theme at 0.46% a year, below the typical fee in its disruptive-innovation cohort and under peers like TRFM and FDTX.
• Human fingerprint on the stock list: Morningstar equity analysts score companies on theme exposure instead of sorting by keywords or revenue tags.sec.govcontentstack.io
• Global by construction (developed and emerging markets) and not fenced into the tech sector, so a drugmaker or an industrial can qualify on theme exposure.sec.gov
• Launched in 2015 and now a multi-billion-dollar iShares fund, it stands among the stronger builds in its innovation peer group.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• ARKW At 0.76% a year it runs above the typical active US equity ETF and several times the fee on quant core funds like DFAC (0.17%) or AVLC (0.15%).
• Concentration cuts both ways: a focused, high-conviction book has swung far harder than a broad market fund, and a few positions drive most of the result.
• Distributions come only annually or semiannually. This is a growth-mandate fund, not an income one.

• XT The index has been reworked since launch (weighting scheme, theme list), and themes get an annual review, so today's tilt is not fixed forever.morningstar.comsec.gov
• Moderately traded rather than a household name, which can mean wider spreads than the biggest tech ETFs.
• About 200 positions dilutes any single breakout winner, and distributions land only once or twice a year.

Full ARKW profile⁠

Full XT profile⁠