BILS vs XHLF

BILSAState Street SPDR Bloomberg 3-12 Month T-Bill ETF

XHLFABondBloxx Bloomberg Six Month Target Duration US Treasury ETF

In short

BILS Most T-bill ETFs park at the very front of the curve. BILS deliberately steps out to bills with 3 to 12 months left to run, one rung further along the same government ladder, from the SPDR bond shop.

XHLF Most cash-parking funds pick a maturity bucket. XHLF picks a number: it blends Treasury bills to an average duration of about six months, resets to that target monthly, and charges three basis points to do it.

Stated mandate

BILS The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg 3-12 Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index, providing exposure to U.S. Treasury Bills with remaining maturities of 3 to 12 months.

XHLF The Fund seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. Treasury securities.

Why people hold it

• BILS Targets the 3-to-12-month rung of the bill curve. Where sibling BIL sits in 1-3 month paper, BILS holds the next maturities out.ssga.com
• A compact book of roughly 40 Treasury bills, direct obligations of the US government. No corporate paper, no credit tiers to decode.ssga.com
• Tracks its Bloomberg bill index closely and pays monthly. A multi-billion-dollar fund with steady day-to-day trading behind it.

• XHLF Costs 0.03% a year, against a typical short-Treasury peer near 0.14%. In cash-like funds, where returns come from bills everyone owns, fee is the main lever.
• Tracks an index built to hold an average duration of roughly six months, rebalanced monthly, so exposure stays anchored instead of drifting as bills mature.bondbloxxetf.com
• Sits in the gap between 0-3 month bill funds and one-year funds. Its sibling XONE targets a one-year duration at the same 0.03%, so the two can be mixed to dial in duration.
• US Treasury bills only, no credit bets hiding in the portfolio, run in a multi-billion-dollar fund that has stayed close to its index.

Worth knowing

• BILS The 0.14% fee matches the category median but runs above the cheapest bill funds, like XONE at 0.03% and VBIL at 0.06%.
• Longer maturities move more when rates shift. Small moves by bond standards, but not as flat a line as a 0-3 month bill fund.
• Income resets as bills mature and roll into new ones, so payouts track wherever short-term Treasury rates sit at the time.ssga.com

• XHLF Six months of duration is not zero. Prices move a touch more when yields shift than in 0-3 month bill funds such as BIL or CLIP.
• Income rides whatever Treasury bills happen to pay, and distributions arrive on an irregular rhythm rather than a fixed amount or schedule.
• Volume is moderate next to the largest bill ETFs, so spreads can be a bit wider, which matters more on big tickets than small ones.

Full BILS profile⁠

Full XHLF profile⁠