BBLB vs ZROZ

BBLBAJPMorgan BetaBuilders U.S. Treasury Bond 20+ Year ETF

ZROZBPIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury Index Exchange-Traded Fund

In short

BBLB The same 20+ year Treasury index the category's household name tracks, at a fraction of the fee. A plain, cheap wrapper on the long end of the curve, still small and young by category standards.

ZROZ Nothing but Treasury principal STRIPS, 25 years and out, with zero coupons attached. PIMCO launched it in 2009, and it reacts to long-rate moves harder than standard long Treasury funds.

Stated mandate

BBLB The fund seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index.

ZROZ The fund seeks total returns that closely track the ICE BofA Long US Treasury Principal STRIPS Index before fees and expenses. It normally invests at least 80% of assets in the index's component securities.

Why people hold it

• BBLB Costs 0.04% a year against a 0.15% median for long-Treasury funds, and follows the very same index as TLT, which charges 0.15%.
• No clever overlay. It holds the actual long-dated Treasuries of the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index, a few dozen bonds, and has hugged that benchmark closely.
• Coupon income is paid out monthly, not quarterly, so cash arrives on a steadier rhythm.
• On cost and index fidelity, one of the tidiest implementations in the long-Treasury group, alongside cheap rivals like VGLT and EDV.

• ZROZ Pure duration, undiluted: it holds the final principal payments of long Treasuries, which make no interest payments until maturity, so price action is driven almost entirely by long rates.pimco.comtreasurydirect.gov
• The original on this exposure. Trading since 2009, it beat the other ETF tracking the same STRIPS index (GOVZ) to market by more than a decade.sec.gov
• It sticks close to its STRIPS index rather than wandering, one of the tighter tracking jobs among long Treasury funds, and it is a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively.
• Credit risk isn't the story here: every position is a US Treasury principal payment, not corporate paper.pimco.com

Worth knowing

• BBLB Trades thinly next to the category's giants, so spreads can widen. Limit orders do real work here.
• A small fund launched in 2023, without the asset base or history of the older names tracking the same ground.
• Bonds maturing 20+ years out swing hard when long yields move. Credit risk is about as low as it gets; interest-rate risk is not.

• ZROZ Duration cuts both ways. With no coupons to cushion, rate moves hit the price harder than in standard 20+ year Treasury funds, and declines can run deep.treasurydirect.gov
• At 0.15% it sits at its group's median, while VGLT (0.03%) and BBLB (0.04%) price long Treasury exposure lower, using coupon bonds rather than STRIPS.
• The STRIPS pay nothing until maturity, yet the fund distributes quarterly, so payouts reflect accrued discount rather than coupon checks arriving in the portfolio.treasurydirect.gov

Full BBLB profile⁠

Full ZROZ profile⁠