CLIP vs VRIG

CLIPAGlobal X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

VRIGBInvesco Variable Rate Investment Grade 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.

VRIG Most funds in the cash corner just roll Treasury bills. VRIG is the active floating-rate alternative: securitized and corporate paper whose coupons reset with short-term rates, built for current income with very low duration.

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.

VRIG The actively managed ETF seeks current income while maintaining low portfolio duration as its primary objective; capital appreciation is secondary.

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.

• VRIG Coupons reset as short-term rates move, which is how the fund keeps portfolio duration low while pursuing current income. Rate swings move floaters less than fixed-coupon bonds.invesco.com
• Active, not an index clone. Managers range across floating-rate securitized, corporate and agency paper, with at least 80% of net assets in investment-grade variable rate instruments.invesco.com
• Pays income monthly and spreads the work across roughly 400 positions instead of a short stack of bills.
• Trading since 2016, so the strategy has a track record covering both rising and falling short-term rates, and it stays actively traded on the screen.

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.

• VRIG It charges 0.30% a year, against 0.19% for the typical fund in its short-duration group and 0.06% to 0.08% for bill trackers like VBIL and ICSH. Active credit work costs more.
• This is credit, not Treasury bills. The 80% investment-grade floor leaves room for lower-rated and fixed-rate holdings, and securitized paper can move when markets get stressed.invesco.com
• Floating coupons cut both ways. When short-term rates fall, the interest the portfolio collects resets lower with them.invesco.com

Full CLIP profile⁠

Full VRIG profile⁠