EART vs NIKL

EARTBGlobal X Rare Earth & Critical Materials ETF

NIKLFSprott Nickel Miners 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.

NIKL Nickel is the metal stainless steel and battery cathodes run on, and NIKL is the only US ETF built purely on the companies digging it. One metal, roughly two dozen global miners, no diversified-mining cushion.

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.

NIKL NIKL is designed to deliver returns broadly corresponding to the Nasdaq Sprott Nickel Miners Index before fees and expenses.

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.

• NIKL The only US ETF focused on nickel miners. Broad battery-metals funds bury nickel among lithium and cobalt names; this one keeps the exposure to a single metal.sprottetfs.com
• The Nasdaq Sprott index spans nickel producers, developers and explorers, and the fund normally holds at least 80% of assets in index securities, so the pure-play design is written into the rules.sprottetfs.comsprottetfs.com 2
• Sprott's whole shelf is mining. Nickel sits beside sibling single-metal miner funds and a broader critical-materials basket (SETM), so you can dial exposure narrow or wide within one house.sprottetfs.com

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

• NIKL At 0.75%, the fee sits above the norm for critical-materials funds and roughly double a diversified miners option like PICK at 0.39%. Narrow focus costs money.
• Around 26 mostly international miners, explorers and developers included. One commodity's price swings drive the whole portfolio, with no other metals to soften the ride.sprottetfs.com
• Cash comes back once or twice a year, not monthly, and the fund only launched in 2023, so the live record is short by design.

Full EART profile⁠

Full NIKL profile⁠