CLIP vs EVSB

CLIPAGlobal X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

EVSBBEaton Vance Ultra-Short Income ETF

In short

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.

EVSB Cash-parking with an active bond desk behind the wheel. Eaton Vance hunts investment-grade short, variable and floating-rate paper, keeps weighted-average duration at a year or less, and charges 0.17%, under the typical ultra-short ETF.

Stated mandate

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.

EVSB The Fund seeks to maximize income while preserving capital. It actively manages primarily investment-grade, short-term fixed, variable, and floating-rate securities, generally keeping weighted-average duration at one year or less.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• EVSB Charges 0.17%, undercutting the typical ultra-short bond ETF. In an aisle where yield differences are measured in fractions of a point, the fee line does real work.
• Active by design: managers shift among short fixed, variable and floating-rate investment-grade securities rather than tracking a fixed list, with duration generally held to one year or less.
• Pays monthly, and the portfolio has stayed tightly aligned with the ultra-short mandate its filings describe.
• Lands in the upper half of a crowded ultra-short cohort, holding its own against the index-tracking heavyweights that dominate the category.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• EVSB Thinly traded and one of the smaller funds in the aisle next to VUSB and PULS, so bid-ask spreads can run wider and larger orders need more care.
• Investment-grade credit, not Treasury bills: part of the income comes from taking credit and spread risk, and floating-rate coupons reset as short-term rates move.
• Launched in 2023, giving it a shorter live record than the decade-plus veterans it competes with.

Full CLIP profile⁠

Full EVSB profile⁠