CIBR vs WCBR

CIBRBFirst Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF

WCBRCWisdomTree Cybersecurity Fund

In short

CIBR A 2015-vintage cybersecurity fund that grew into a multi-billion-dollar one. It tracks the Nasdaq CTA Cybersecurity Index with a tight basket of roughly 30 names, so every holding carries real weight.

WCBR Cyber defense, distilled: a global basket of roughly 30 stocks with an ESG screen built into the index, at 0.45% a year. Concentration is the design choice, not an accident.

Stated mandate

CIBR The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield of the Nasdaq CTA Cybersecurity Index through an indexing approach. It normally invests at least 90% of net assets in the index's common stocks and depositary receipts.

WCBR The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive Cyber Security ESG Screened Index.

Why people hold it

• CIBR Concentrated on purpose: roughly 30 stocks screened by the index as cybersecurity businesses, not a broad tech basket wearing a cyber label.
• Size and turnover work in your favor here: a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, which is what keeps spreads workable on a niche theme.
• Runs to the rulebook: at least 90% of net assets in the index's common stocks and depositary receipts, and it has tracked that index closely.
• Live since 2015, through multiple cyber hype cycles, and one of the stronger implementations in its peer group.

• WCBR At 0.45%, it undercuts the cybersecurity cohort's median fee of 0.50% and comes in cheaper than CIBR (0.58%) and HACK (0.60%).
• About 30 holdings, global mandate. A tight expression of the theme rather than a broad tech basket with a cyber label on the tin.
• The benchmark, Solactive's Cyber Security ESG Screened Index, filters on ESG criteria before the stock picking, so the screen is part of the machinery, not an add-on.
• Live since 2021 and sitting in the upper half of its cybersecurity peer group on our review.

Worth knowing

• CIBR At 0.58% a year it sits above the 0.50% cybersecurity-ETF median, and cheaper shelves exist: IHAK at 0.47%, WCBR at 0.45%.
• One theme, about 30 names. A few holdings drive the outcome, so this behaves like a slice of tech, not a diversified core.
• Distributions land quarterly, but this is a growth-equity theme; the index tracks cybersecurity businesses, not payout streams.

• WCBR Thinly traded next to the category's giants, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads and more slippage on the way in and out.
• PSWD tracks the same declared index at 0.20%, so the fee advantage here holds against most of the cohort but not that one.
• Thirty-odd stocks in a single theme swing harder than a diversified fund, and it has not been paying distributions, so price is the whole story.

Full CIBR profile⁠

Full WCBR profile⁠