CLIP vs SPTU

CLIPAGlobal X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

SPTUAState Street SPDR Portfolio Ultra Short T-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.

SPTU State Street already owns the T-bill aisle with BIL. SPTU is the house undercutting itself: the same firm's bill exposure at 0.05% a year, stretched across the whole one-to-twelve-month curve instead of just the front slice.

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.

SPTU The ETF seeks to provide investment results that generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the ICE BofA US Treasury Bill Index. It invests in U.S. Treasury bills with remaining maturities of at least one month and less than twelve months.

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.

• SPTU Charges 0.05% a year, roughly a third of the 0.14% on State Street's older, far larger bill fund BIL for a closely related job.ssga.com
• Owns the full bill curve, one month out to twelve, where most cash-parking rivals stop at three months. One ticker instead of a hand-built ladder.ssga.com
• Plain plumbing: a passive index fund holding roughly 50 US Treasury bills. No corporate paper, no derivatives overlay, no yield-chasing detour.
• Its portfolio matches the label it sells: the ICE BofA US Treasury Bill Index, and nothing hiding behind it.

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.

• SPTU Launched in October 2025, so the track record is thin and the fund is still building its asset base next to entrenched competitors.
• Thinly traded so far. Spreads can run wider and less predictable than in the category's most heavily traded names.
• Reaching out to twelve-month bills means slightly more price sensitivity to rate moves than 0-3 month funds like VBIL or CLIP, and payouts have not settled into a fixed schedule.

Full CLIP profile⁠

Full SPTU profile⁠