FJP vs SCJ

FJPCFirst Trust Japan AlphaDEX Fund

SCJAiShares MSCI Japan Small-Cap ETF

In short

FJP Most Japan ETFs buy the market by size. FJP scores Japanese stocks on growth and value, then holds roughly 100 of the highest scorers, weighted by rank rather than market cap. A stock-picker's rulebook in an index wrapper.

SCJ Japan past the household-name exporters. SCJ holds roughly 800 of the country's smaller listed companies, the domestic slice that large-cap Japan benchmarks leave out, and it has been running that mandate since 2007.

Stated mandate

FJP The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX® JapanTM Index.

SCJ The fund seeks to track an index composed of small-capitalization Japanese equities.

Why people hold it

• FJP The AlphaDEX screen ranks the Nasdaq Japan universe separately on growth and value marks, then keeps about 100 names weighted by rank, so Japan's biggest companies don't automatically get the biggest slots.nasdaqomx.com
• Live since 2011, it is one of the longer-running factor takes on Japanese stocks, and it has grown into a fund holding hundreds of millions of dollars.
• About 100 holdings spread the exposure well beyond a handful of blue chips, and the fund distributes on a quarterly schedule.
• It stays on mandate: a Japan-only equity portfolio built to the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Japan Index, tracking that benchmark closely with no side bets bolted on.

• SCJ One job, done tightly: it tracks the MSCI Japan Small Cap Index, roughly 800 names deep, the part of the market big blue-chip Japan benchmarks leave on the floor.ishares.com
• Trading since 2007, so there is a long live record here, not a backtest, and it has stayed tight to its index over that stretch.
• About 800 holdings means no single stock carries the portfolio, and the 0.50% fee sits right at the median for single-country Japan funds.

Worth knowing

• FJP The screen costs money: 0.80% a year, several times what plain cap-weighted Japan trackers like FLJP and BBJP charge, and at the pricier end of the Japan shelf.
• Thinly traded next to the Japan giants, so spreads and order timing carry more weight here; limit orders exist for exactly this situation.
• One country, one currency, one rulebook. The portfolio can look and behave very differently from Japan's headline cap-weighted indexes in any given stretch.nasdaqomx.com

• SCJ 0.50% a year is the going rate for the niche, but broad Japan trackers like FLJP (0.09%) and BBJP (0.19%) charge a fraction. Small-cap coverage is the upcharge.
• Moderately traded, and Tokyo is closed while US markets are open, so spreads and price-to-value gaps can widen at the edges of the session.
• Unhedged: the holdings are priced in yen, so currency swings land on top of the stock moves, in both directions. Distributions come once or twice a year.ishares.com

Full FJP profile⁠

Full SCJ profile⁠