CLIP vs SOFR

CLIPAGlobal X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

SOFRCAmplify Samsung SOFR 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.

SOFR The ticker is the mandate. Instead of owning a T-bill ladder and hoping it nets out to the overnight rate, this fund goes at the rate directly through Treasury-backed repurchase agreements, targeting SOFR after fees.

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.

SOFR The Fund seeks current income matching the returns of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), after fund expenses. It aims to closely replicate SOFR and expects to do so principally through repurchase agreements.

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.

• SOFR Rare literal mandate: seek current income matching the Secured Overnight Financing Rate after expenses, principally through repurchase agreements. No duration bet, no credit-spread hunt.amplifyetfs.com
• The portfolio matches the label. Repo against Treasury collateral, overnight in and overnight out, and it tracks the rate it names closely enough to rank in the upper half of cash-alternative funds.
• Income lands monthly, and the 0.20% fee sits right at the median for cash-alternative ETFs.

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.

• SOFR Thinly traded next to the cash-parking giants, so limit orders and a look at the spread matter more here.
• Payouts float with the overnight rate by design. When SOFR drops, what the fund passes through drops with it.
• Median fee, not a bargain one: ICSH charges 0.08%, JPST 0.18%, and several peers land at 0.15%.

Full CLIP profile⁠

Full SOFR profile⁠