CLIP vs KCSH

CLIPAGlobal X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

KCSHBKraneShares Sustainable Ultra Short Duration Index 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.

KCSH Most of this aisle is a Treasury-bill parking lot. KCSH is the climate-screened one: sub-one-year investment-grade corporate bonds filtered by ISS climate analysis for Paris Agreement alignment, with income paid monthly.

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.

KCSH Seeks investment results that generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the Solactive ISS Sustainable Select 0-1 Year USD Corporate IG Index. The index covers U.S.-dollar investment-grade corporate debt maturing within one year and aligned with the Paris Agreement.

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.

• KCSH The differentiator is the screen: ISS climate analysis, Paris 1.5C-by-2050 alignment and fossil fuel exclusions, applied to ultra-short corporate credit.kraneshares.com
• The index targets credit and rate risk similar to mainstream ultra-short investment-grade benchmarks, so the screen reshapes the issuer list more than the risk profile.kraneshares.com
• Roughly 160 short-dated corporate bonds, held physically inside a 1940 Act fund, with distributions monthly rather than quarterly.kraneshares.com
• Fee sits near the category median at 0.20% net of a waiver through August 1, 2028, a long runway for a screened product in a price-war 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.

• KCSH Bill funds are cheaper: VBIL 0.06%, CLIP 0.07%, ICSH 0.08%, no waivers. KCSH is 0.20% net of a waiver through August 1, 2028, and 0.30% gross if it lapses.
• This is corporate credit, not government paper. Investment-grade and under a year to maturity, but default and spread risk exist where a Treasury bill fund has effectively none.kraneshares.com
• Small and lightly traded next to the category's giants, and live only since 2024: spreads can be wider and the track record is short.

Full CLIP profile⁠

Full KCSH profile⁠