CLIP vs OBIL

CLIPAGlobal X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

OBILBUS Treasury 12 Month Bill 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.

OBIL Most cash-parking ETFs blend a ladder of short bills. OBIL points at one spot on the curve instead: the 12-month Treasury bill. A precision instrument from F/m's benchmark lineup, and it pays 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.

OBIL The fund seeks investment results that correspond to the performance of its stated underlying benchmark.

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.

• OBIL Aims at a single point on the Treasury curve, the 12-month bill, rather than a blended basket of maturities. Rare precision in a category built on averages.
• Has tracked its stated benchmark closely, which is the whole job for a fund like this.
• Distributes monthly, so income arrives on a steady cadence rather than in quarterly lumps.
• Live since 2022 and has gathered a few hundred million dollars, real staying power for a niche single-maturity idea.

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.

• OBIL At 0.15%, it costs more than the T-bill cohort's typical fund and well more than the cheapest rivals, XONE at 0.03% and VBIL at 0.06%.
• Trades thinly next to cohort giants like BIL, which can mean wider spreads on the way in and out.
• A 12-month bill carries more rate sensitivity than the 0-3 month peers (VBIL, CLIP) it sits beside in this category.

Full CLIP profile⁠

Full OBIL profile⁠