EART vs FMTL

EARTBGlobal X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF

FMTLCFirst Trust Indxx Critical Metals ETF

In short

EART Rare earths are the headline, but the basket runs wider: ten critical-material categories, from copper and lithium to cobalt and carbon fiber, screened so miners must earn at least half their revenue from the stuff.

FMTL First Trust's late-2025 entry into the critical-metals race: an index fund on the miners and processors behind batteries, magnets and grids, across US, developed and emerging markets. Priced at the category median, on a crowded shelf.

Stated mandate

EART The fund seeks exposure to companies producing rare-earth components, metals, and other raw or composite materials needed for expanding critical technologies, including electric vehicles, energy storage, robotics, and radar systems.

FMTL The fund seeks investment results that generally correspond to the Indxx Global Critical Metals Index and normally invests at least 80% of net assets in securities comprising that index.

Why people hold it

• EART Costs 0.59% a year, below the typical fee in its critical-materials peer group.
• Purity rule with teeth: a company needs 50% of revenue from the ten materials, so conglomerates with a lithium side hustle stay out.globalxetfs.com
• Caps each name at 4% and floors it at 0.3%, reset twice a year, so one giant miner cannot swallow a roughly 50-stock portfolio.globalxetfs.com
• Global mandate covering miners and processors wherever they list, and one of the stronger builds in its critical-materials peer group.

• FMTL One ticket to the metals story: companies across the US, developed and emerging markets rather than a single-country bet.ftportfolios.com
• Rules-based by design. It tracks the Indxx Global Critical Metals Index and normally keeps at least 80% of net assets in that index's securities, so no stock-picking discretion.ftportfolios.com
• The 0.65% expense ratio sits right at the median for critical-materials ETFs, so the newest name on the shelf isn't charging a premium for being new.

Worth knowing

• EART Rare earths share the basket with copper, lithium, nickel and platinum group metals, so broad commodity cycles move it as much as any rare-earth squeeze.globalxetfs.com
• A small fund with light volume next to the category's giants, which can mean wider spreads, especially near the open and close.
• Listed in 2022 as the Global X Disruptive Materials ETF (DMAT) and renamed in 2026, so the track record predates the rare-earth branding.globalxetfs.com

• FMTL Cheaper routes into the theme exist: PICK charges 0.39% and REMX 0.53%, both with far longer track records.
• It opened in November 2025, so there is no multi-year record of how tightly it tracks its index or how it holds up through a metals downturn.
• Distributions come annually or semiannually, and a young, small fund tends to trade in lighter volume than the category's established names.

Full EART profile⁠

Full FMTL profile⁠