CXSE vs FCA

CXSEAWisdomTree China ex-State-Owned Enterprises Fund

FCACFirst Trust China AlphaDEX Fund

In short

CXSE CXSE tracks an index that screens state-owned enterprises out of China, leaving the privately run companies. A tilt toward entrepreneurs rather than Beijing's balance sheet, at a fee well under the typical China fund.

FCA Most China ETFs just hold the market. FCA screens the Nasdaq China universe on growth and value factors, keeping roughly 50 names weighted by rank rather than size. A quant twist on China exposure, running since 2011.

Stated mandate

CXSE The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the WisdomTree China ex-State-Owned Enterprises Index.

FCA The fund seeks to generally match, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX China Index. It normally invests at least 90% of net assets in securities comprising that index and uses an indexing approach.

Why people hold it

• CXSE The whole design is one screen: state-controlled companies out, privately run ones in, about 200 of them. Not a broad China index with a tweak.
• 0.32% a year, well under half the 0.70% median for single-country China funds.
• Trading since 2012, and one of the tighter, more faithful builds in a crowded China cohort.

• FCA Not a cap-weighted mirror. The AlphaDEX screen ranks the Nasdaq China universe on growth and value factors, then selects and weights the survivors by rank, so the biggest listing isn't automatically the biggest position.firsttrust.ca
• Concentrated on purpose: roughly 50 stocks instead of the hundreds in a broad China index. Every holding has to earn its slot through the screen.
• Launched in 2011, which makes it one of the longer-tenured China funds on the shelf. The rules have been through multiple China booms and busts, not just a back-test.
• Rules, not hunches. It normally keeps at least 90% of net assets in its Nasdaq index constituents and uses a straight indexing approach, so nobody is trading headlines for you.

Worth knowing

• CXSE Thinly traded next to China heavyweights like MCHI and GXC, so limit orders matter more here.
• One country, about 200 stocks, and none of the state-backed heavyweights as ballast. Swings run bigger than a diversified global fund's.
• Cheap for the group, not the cheapest: FLCH (0.19%) and JCHI (0.15%) undercut it with different mandates.

• FCA The screen costs money: 0.80% a year, versus a fraction of that at plain cap-weighted China trackers such as FLCH (0.19%) and CXSE (0.32%).
• Small asset base and thin trading volume. Bid-ask spreads and order size matter more here than at the category giants, and premiums or discounts can widen.
• Factor weighting means returns can drift well away from the headline China indexes in either direction. That divergence is the point, and it cuts both ways.

Full CXSE profile⁠

Full FCA profile⁠