CLOA vs PSQA

CLOAAiShares AAA CLO Active ETF

PSQACPalmer Square CLO Senior Debt ETF

In short

CLOA BlackRock's play in AAA CLOs: active credit picking measured against J.P. Morgan's CLOIE AAA index, 0.20% a year, spread over roughly 400 positions. A billion-dollar-plus book built since its 2023 launch.

PSQA The index fund in a category of hand-picked portfolios. PSQA tracks Palmer Square's own CLO Senior Debt Index, a daily CLO benchmark since 2015, holding senior tranches rated AAA or AA at issuance.

Stated mandate

CLOA The fund seeks exposure to U.S. dollar-denominated AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations, using active credit selection to pursue income and capital preservation with potentially low volatility.

PSQA The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Palmer Square CLO Senior Debt Index.

Why people hold it

• CLOA Charges 0.20% a year, below the 0.25% typical for CLO funds and level with what most of the category's biggest names (JAAA, FAAA, ACLO) charge.
• Roughly 400 separate CLO positions, one of the deepest books in its peer group, so no single deal carries the fund.
• Actively run: the team selects deals and CLO managers instead of buying whatever a benchmark holds. The CLOIE AAA index is the yardstick, not the rulebook.
• Income arrives monthly, and it sits among the easier funds in its cohort to get in and out of.

• PSQA Passive where the category leans active: it follows a published rulebook for senior CLO debt rather than a manager's tranche-by-tranche calls, as rivals like CLOA do.sec.gov
• It tracks the house benchmark: Palmer Square launched the CLO Senior Debt Index on May 29, 2015, among the first broadly distributed daily CLO benchmarks, now subscribed to worldwide.prnewswire.comyahoo.com
• Fee is 0.21%, with no waiver propping it up. That sits near the category median and within a hair of PAAA (0.19%), JAAA and CLOA (0.20%).
• Scope is the top of the structure: index constituents are CLO debt rated AAA or AA at issuance, the tranches that get paid first.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• CLOA Active means manager-dependent. There is no index to fall back on, so outcomes hinge on which deals the desk picks.
• The mandate pursues income and capital preservation with potentially low volatility. That is the aim, not a floor; CLO prices still move.
• Trading since January 2023, so its record is short next to long-running bond funds and covers a narrow slice of credit history.

• PSQA Young fund: it listed in September 2024, so the record is short and has not yet run through a full credit cycle.
• The AA allowance puts part of the portfolio a notch below the AAA-only lineup (JAAA, CLOA, PAAA), which means a step up in credit risk.sec.gov
• Fidelity's FAAA and FCLO currently charge 0.00% under waivers running through January 31, 2027, so PSQA's 0.21% is the costlier seat while those waivers last.

Full CLOA profile⁠

Full PSQA profile⁠