CLIP vs SGOV

CLIPAGlobal X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

SGOVAiShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond 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.

SGOV A cash-parking tool that owns nothing but US Treasury bills maturing in three months or less, pays out monthly, and charges 0.09%. Launched in 2020, it has grown into one of the largest bond ETFs around.

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.

SGOV The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. Treasury bills with remaining maturities of three months 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.

• SGOV 0.09% a year against a 0.14% median for its T-bill peer group, and it is very actively traded, which tends to keep the round-trip cost of getting in and out thin.
• One job, done plainly: track an index of Treasury bills with three months or less to run, and hand out the income monthly. Tracking has been close to the index.ishares.com
• Holdings mature in weeks, so interest-rate sensitivity is minimal and the share price moves very little when yields swing.ishares.com

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.

• SGOV Cheaper bill funds exist. VBIL lists at 0.06% and CLIP at 0.07%, so the fee advantage here is over the pricier half of the group, not the whole field.
• Income tracks short-term rates. Bills roll every few weeks, so the monthly payout resets quickly in whichever direction rates go.
• The flip side of near-zero duration: no price kicker when rates drop, the way longer-dated Treasury funds get.

Full CLIP profile⁠

Full SGOV profile⁠