CSD vs SPAQ

CSDBInvesco S&P Spin-Off ETF

SPAQDHorizon Kinetics SPAC Active ETF

In short

CSD Most funds in this corner of the market chase IPOs. CSD buys the other kind of new company: businesses cut loose from a bigger parent, held only for their first four years on their own, then rolled off.

SPAQ Most equity funds measure themselves against the stock market. This one sets its bar at a bank CD: an actively run basket of SPACs and their warrants, chasing realized gains above short-term interest rates.

Stated mandate

CSD The fund seeks exposure to companies spun off from parent companies by tracking the S&P U.S. Spin-Off Index, investing at least 90% of assets in index securities or depositary receipts.

SPAQ The Fund seeks realized capital gains above short-term interest rates on a risk-adjusted basis. It primarily pursues this objective by investing in SPACs that the sub-adviser expects to generate gains above comparable bank certificate-of-deposit income.

Why people hold it

• CSD The mandate is narrow and literal: U.S. companies spun off from a parent within the last four years, each with at least $1 billion in float-adjusted market cap.spglobal.com
• Fresh spin-offs get picked up at the monthly rebalance and every name ages out after four years, so the basket keeps turning over instead of going stale.spglobal.comspglobal.com 2
• 0.65% a year (0.66% gross, net of a waiver through August 31, 2028), near the middle of its eight-fund category, where First Trust's FPX charges 0.57% with no waiver.
• Live since December 2006 and still running the same spin-off mandate, it sits among the stronger builds in its small peer group.

• SPAQ The mandate is unusually literal: realized capital gains above short-term rates, measured against what a comparable bank certificate of deposit would pay.
• Goes where index products rarely do: roughly 60 positions in SPACs plus the warrants and rights attached to them, chosen by a sub-adviser rather than a screen.
• Its peer group is mostly IPO and spin-off index funds (FPX, CSD, IPO). This is one of the few US ETFs pointed squarely at SPACs, and it has run since 2023.

Worth knowing

• CSD About 30 holdings, so one company's news can move the whole fund. This is a concentrated slice, not a core holding.
• One of the lighter-traded funds in its category, which can mean wider gaps between what buyers bid and sellers ask.
• Income is an afterthought here: distributions land once or twice a year, and the index is built around corporate events, not yield.spglobal.com

• SPAQ Active management shows up in the fee: 0.85% a year versus a 0.70% peer median, and SPAC-focused rival SPCK charges no management fee at all.
• A small fund that trades thinly, so spreads can run wider than in the big index names in its category and order size matters more.
• Cash comes back once or twice a year at most, and with no index underneath, outcomes ride on the sub-adviser's deal-by-deal judgment.

Full CSD profile⁠

Full SPAQ profile⁠