BBSB vs NEAR

BBSBAJPMorgan BetaBuilders U.S. Treasury Bond 1-3 Year ETF

NEARCiShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF

In short

BBSB A plain box of short Treasuries at 0.04%, well under what the category's longtime benchmark fund charges for the very same ICE index. About 90 bonds, monthly income, no story beyond the math.

NEAR The active outlier in a peer group of penny-cheap Treasury trackers. NEAR's managers pick across roughly 1,800 short bonds, government and corporate, aiming to out-earn the Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit index while holding duration under three years.

Stated mandate

BBSB The fund seeks current income by tracking the ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index. It uses representative sampling to closely replicate the index's characteristics.

NEAR The fund seeks total return above its Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index benchmark while generally keeping portfolio duration below three years. It is actively managed through macro allocation and security selection focused on creditworthiness and valuation.

Why people hold it

• BBSB Charges 0.04% a year, versus a 0.15% median for 1-3 year Treasury ETFs. On a parking-lot asset like this, fee is most of the controllable outcome.
• Tracks the ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index, the same benchmark iShares' SHY follows at 0.15%. Same bonds, same rules, a fraction of the toll.jpmorgan.com
• Representative sampling of roughly 90 Treasuries keeps it tight to the index, and it stays in its lane: U.S. government paper, one to three years, monthly distributions.

• NEAR Active by design: the managers move between government and corporate paper on creditworthiness and valuation, rather than copying an index line for line.ishares.com
• Roughly 1,800 positions, so no single issuer carries much weight. Income lands monthly.
• Running since 2013 and still doing what the documents say: duration generally kept under three years, one of the tighter mandate fits in its peer group.
• Billions in assets and regular daily trading behind it, sizeable for an actively managed bond fund.

Worth knowing

• BBSB Thinly traded. Bid-ask spread can outweigh the fee edge for short holding periods, so execution matters more here than with the category's giants.
• VGSH, SCHO and SPTS run the same short-Treasury job for 0.03%. The gap is a rounding error, but it is a gap.
• Launched in 2023 with a modest asset base, so it has a shorter operating history than the decades-old incumbents in this corner.

• NEAR Active costs money: 0.25% a year, above the peer median of 0.15% and far above index Treasury trackers like VGSH and SCHO at 0.03%.
• It buys corporate credit, not just government bonds, so issuer risk rides along. Pure Treasury peers such as SHY don't carry that.
• Outcomes hang on manager calls, not an index rulebook, so the portfolio can diverge from its benchmark in either direction.

Full BBSB profile⁠

Full NEAR profile⁠