CLIP vs SCUS

CLIPAGlobal X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

SCUSBSchwab 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.

SCUS Schwab's cash-parking entry: an actively managed sleeve of short-dated investment-grade dollar debt, measured against 3-month T-bills, at 0.14% a year. That undercuts the typical ultra-short bond ETF, and most active ones too.

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.

SCUS The fund seeks current income consistent with capital preservation while maintaining liquidity. It actively invests in investment-grade, short-term, U.S.-dollar-denominated debt securities issued by U.S. and foreign issuers.

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.

• SCUS 0.14% a year undercuts the ultra-short category's 0.20% median, and lands below active rivals like PULS at 0.15%.
• Active, not index-tracking: managers pick among short-dated investment-grade dollar bonds from US and foreign issuers, with capital preservation and liquidity written into the mandate.
• Income arrives monthly, drawn from roughly 150 positions rather than a handful of bills.
• Sits in the upper half of a crowded ultra-short bond field, with cost doing the heavy lifting.

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.

• SCUS Launched in August 2024, so the track record is short next to ultra-short mainstays like SHV.
• Assets are modest and trading is moderate, so spreads can run wider than at the category's biggest names.
• Benchmarked to 3-month T-bills, but it buys credit rather than only government paper, so the share price can move when spreads widen.

Full CLIP profile⁠

Full SCUS profile⁠