BENJ vs BUCK

BENJAHorizon Landmark ETF

BUCKASimplify Treasury Option Income ETF

In short

BENJ Most option-income Treasury funds sell calls against long bonds. BENJ flips it: hold one- to three-month T-bills as ballast, then run an actively managed options book on US stocks, ETFs and indexes.

BUCK Most Treasury option-income funds write calls on 20+ year bonds and hand you the duration ride. BUCK works the short end: U.S. government securities kept to a year or less of duration, with an option overlay on top, paying monthly.

Stated mandate

BENJ The Fund seeks total return through active management, investing primarily in one- to three-month U.S. Treasury bills and related ETFs while using options strategies on a broad range of domestic equity securities, ETFs, and equity indices.

BUCK The fund seeks monthly income through an actively managed portfolio with at least 80% of net assets in U.S. government securities. It seeks total returns while keeping duration at one year or less and uses risk-managed option writing to add income and total return.

Why people hold it

• BENJ Costs 0.40%, under the 0.58% median for its option-income Treasury cohort and well below OVT at 0.80%.
• The bond sleeve is one- to three-month T-bills, so there is no 20+ year duration bet built in the way there is with long-bond buy-write peers like TLTW and TLTI.
• Fully active, not rule-locked: the manager can write options across single stocks, ETFs and equity indexes rather than one fixed index overlay.
• Sits in the upper half of a small, crowded peer group of Treasury-plus-options funds.

• BUCK Duration is capped at one year or less by mandate, so income leans on the option writing rather than a bet on long-bond prices.simplify.us
• A 0.35% expense ratio undercuts the typical fee among Treasury option-income funds and ties the cheapest of its top-ranked peers, TLTW.
• Pays monthly, with at least 80% of net assets in U.S. government securities, so the engine sits on Treasuries rather than corporate credit.
• Sits in the upper half of its small Treasury-overlay peer group, one of the stronger takes on the short-bonds-plus-options idea.

Worth knowing

• BENJ Launched in 2025, so the track record is short and there is not much history yet to judge how the options book behaves across different markets.
• Thinly traded, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads than the expense ratio alone suggests.
• Built for total return, not a set payout calendar. It has not run on the monthly-distribution cadence common elsewhere in option-income land.

• BUCK Actively managed with no published index behind it. Results ride on how the manager runs the option book, and premium income varies month to month.
• Selling options is a trade: premium now in exchange for giving up some upside on the underlying positions.simplify.us
• Launched in 2022, so the live record covers a short and unusual stretch of rate history.

Full BENJ profile⁠

Full BUCK profile⁠