CNXT vs MCHI

CNXTCVanEck ChiNext Innovators ETF

MCHIAiShares MSCI China ETF

In short

CNXT A pure Shenzhen play: CNXT tracks the ChiNext Index, the large and liquid companies on Shenzhen's ChiNext growth board, and has run that one mandate since 2014.

MCHI The default one-ticker way to own China. MCHI has tracked the MSCI China Index since 2011, holding roughly 600 stocks open to international investors, and it stays actively traded.

Stated mandate

CNXT CNXT seeks to track the price and yield performance of the ChiNext Index, which represents large and liquid companies listed on Shenzhen's ChiNext Market.

MCHI The fund seeks to track an index of Chinese equities available to international investors.

Why people hold it

• CNXT The mandate is one line: track the ChiNext Index, roughly 100 large, liquid names on Shenzhen's growth board. No manager discretion, no style drift.
• Launched in 2014, it has carried the same index through more than a decade of Chinese market swings. Long tenure for a single-country niche fund.
• The holdings sit onshore in Shenzhen, but the wrapper is an ordinary US-registered fund that trades on a US exchange like anything else in your account.
• Trading activity is moderate rather than thin, which is more than many single-country China niches can say.

• MCHI One ticker, roughly 600 Chinese stocks. Instead of picking among share classes and listings, you get the MSCI China Index (Net) in a single line item.ishares.com
• 0.59% expense ratio, below the middle of the single-country China pack, and the fund has hewed closely to its stated index mandate.
• Running since 2011 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, which is why it turns up as the reference China holding in so many portfolios.
• One of the stronger implementations in its peer group on tradability and staying power, both scored in the top tier of the China cohort.

Worth knowing

• CNXT 0.65% a year is above the typical index-tracking ETF fee. The access to a hard-to-reach corner of China is what the extra cost buys.
• One country, one exchange board, about 100 growth-oriented stocks. Moves are sharper than a broad global index, with no other market to cushion them.
• Cash comes back once or twice a year at most. This is a growth-board tracker, not an income engine.

• MCHI Cheaper broad-China options exist: FLCH charges 0.19% and JPMorgan's active JCHI 0.15%. You are paying up for MCHI's depth and liquidity.
• Single-country equity risk, undiluted. Chinese regulation, currency and policy swings hit the whole basket at once, and the index leans heavily on its biggest names.
• Distributions come once or twice a year, not monthly, so cash flow arrives in lumps.

Full CNXT profile⁠

Full MCHI profile⁠