FDFF vs IPAY

FDFFBFidelity Disruptive Finance ETF

IPAYCAmplify Digital Payments ETF

In short

FDFF Fidelity's stock-picker take on fintech: roughly 50 hand-chosen names in payments, lending and financial software, at the lowest fee in its fintech peer group. Small and thinly traded, but the mandate is clear and the price tag is light.

IPAY The payments purist. IPAY tracks a global index of card networks, processors and wallet apps, roughly 40 names deep, while most fintech funds spread into lending, crypto and banking software.

Stated mandate

FDFF The fund seeks long-term growth of capital and normally invests at least 80% of its assets in securities of disruptive finance companies.

IPAY IPAY seeks returns that generally track the Nasdaq CTA Global Digital Payments Index before fees and expenses. It follows a passive/indexing approach rather than trying to outperform the index or moving temporarily defensive.

Why people hold it

• FDFF Costs 0.50% a year, under the 0.68% median for fintech ETFs and below every peer here: BPAY (0.66%), FINX (0.68%), IPAY and ARKF (0.75%).
• A real mandate, not a label: at least 80% of assets go to disruptive finance companies, held in a focused book of about 50 stocks rather than a sprawling index.fidelity.com
• Fidelity research behind the picks, running since 2020, and it grades in the top quartile of the fintech funds we cover.

• IPAY Narrow by design: it follows the Nasdaq CTA Global Digital Payments Index, so the money goes to the plumbing of card swipes and app taps rather than fintech broadly.
• Global mandate, not a US-only basket. Payments is an inherently cross-border business and the index is built that way.
• Launched in 2015, making it one of the longer-running thematic payments funds, with a rules-based index approach instead of a manager's stock picks.

Worth knowing

• FDFF Thinly traded and small by ETF standards, so spreads can be wider than the headline fee suggests and the fund has less scale cushion than its bigger rivals.
• About 50 stocks in one theme means fintech sentiment drives the ride. This is a concentrated slice, not a diversified financials holding.
• Active, so there is no index to check the manager against. Results track stock selection, and distributions come quarterly rather than monthly.

• IPAY At 0.75% a year it sits at the top of the fintech shelf. FDFF charges 0.50% and BPAY 0.66%, though both cast a wider net than payments alone.
• About 40 stocks in a single theme. When payment volumes or fintech sentiment turn, there is nothing else in the portfolio to cushion it.
• Distributions come annually or semiannually, and it trades at moderate volume rather than penny-spread scale, so limit orders are the sane default.

Full FDFF profile⁠

Full IPAY profile⁠