CXSE vs KSTR

CXSEAWisdomTree China ex-State-Owned Enterprises Fund

KSTRDKraneShares China Technology & Semiconductor STAR 50 Index ETF

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.

KSTR A concentrated way into Shanghai's Science and Technology Innovation Board: KSTR tracks the STAR 50, roughly 50 A-share tech and chip names, and no other China fund in its peer group follows that benchmark.

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.

KSTR The Fund seeks to provide investment results that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the SSE Science and Technology Innovation Board 50 Index.

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.

• KSTR Tracks the SSE Science and Technology Innovation Board 50 Index, about 50 Shanghai-listed names. No other China ETF in its peer group follows the same benchmark.
• Actively traded for a niche single-country fund, so getting in and out tends to be straightforward rather than a spread-hunting exercise.
• Plain plumbing: a 1940 Act fund following a published index, run since 2021 by a China-focused specialist, with a few hundred million in assets behind it.

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.

• KSTR At 0.89% a year, it costs more than the typical China ETF in its group. That is the toll for a board most issuers skip.
• Roughly 50 stocks from one exchange board, tilted toward semiconductors, so moves land harder than in broad China funds like MCHI or FLCH.
• Across its China peer group it lands in the bottom quarter on our overall read, weighed down mainly by cost and how narrow the portfolio is.

Full CXSE profile⁠

Full KSTR profile⁠