BKUI vs CLIP

BKUIABNY Mellon Ultra Short Income ETF

CLIPAGlobal X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

In short

BKUI BNY's take on the parked-cash corner: an investment-grade ultra-short bond fund at 0.13% a year, spread across roughly 160 positions, paying income monthly.

CLIP Treasury bills, one to three months out, at half the fee of the category's longtime giant. Global X launched CLIP in 2023 as the cheap challenger in the parking-lot corner of the bond market, and it has hugged its index tightly since.

Stated mandate

BKUI The fund seeks high current income while maintaining liquidity and limiting principal volatility. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in investment-grade, U.S.-dollar fixed, variable or floating-rate debt or cash equivalents.

CLIP CLIP seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Solactive 1-3 month US T-Bill Index. It invests in U.S. government Treasury bills with remaining maturities from one month to under three months.

Why people hold it

• BKUI 0.13% a year undercuts the ultra-short category's typical fee, and lands below top-rated peers like SHV, PULS and DUSB at 0.15%.
• The mandate is plain-spoken: at least 80% of net assets in investment-grade dollar debt (fixed, variable or floating rate) or cash equivalents.
• Income arrives monthly, and the book spreads across roughly 160 positions rather than a handful of bills.
• Sits in the upper tier of a crowded ultra-short field of nearly 30 funds on our review.

• CLIP 0.07% a year, half the 0.14% median for its bill-fund cohort and half what category veteran BIL charges for the same one-to-three-month exposure.
• The mandate fits on one line: US Treasury bills maturing in one month to under three, roughly two dozen of them. Government paper only, no corporate credit slipped in.globalxetfs.com
• Sticks to the Solactive 1-3 month US T-Bill Index about as tightly as anything in its peer group, which is the entire job description for a bill fund.
• Distributes monthly, and it has already gathered billions in assets, so it is no thin-ice launch.

Worth knowing

• BKUI The goal is limited principal volatility, not zero. This is short-dated credit, not a deposit account, so the share price can move.
• With floating and variable-rate paper in the mix, the monthly payout floats with short-term rates instead of holding a set coupon.
• Trading is moderate rather than the deepest in the category, which matters most on large orders.

• CLIP Income comes straight off short-term Treasury rates. Monthly payouts move up and down with those rates rather than sitting at a fixed level.
• It opened in 2023, so the track record is short next to the bill funds it undercuts on fee.
• Volume is respectable, not the deepest in the cohort, and a hair cheaper exists (Vanguard's VBIL at 0.06%). At these fee levels the gap is rounding error.

Full BKUI profile⁠

Full CLIP profile⁠