FMTL vs SETM

FMTLCFirst Trust Indxx Critical Metals ETF

SETMCSprott Critical Materials ETF

In short

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.

SETM Most funds in this corner pick a lane: lithium, or rare earths. SETM tracks an index built to span the wider critical-materials complex, roughly 160 miners and processors in a single basket.

Stated mandate

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.

SETM SETM seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total-return performance of the Nasdaq Sprott Critical Materials Index.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• SETM Peers narrow to one metal (ILIT for lithium, REMX and EART for rare earths). SETM holds roughly 160 miners and processors across the theme, in one rules-based index.
• The 0.65% fee lands right at the middle of the critical-materials pack. Breadth here does not carry a premium price tag.
• Real size for a niche theme, with regular daily volume behind it. That tends to mean easier fills than the thinnest shelves in mining ETFs.
• Fully index-driven: the fund aims to match the Nasdaq Sprott Critical Materials Index before fees, so the holdings follow a published rulebook rather than a manager's call.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• SETM Mining exposure comes cheaper elsewhere in the group: PICK runs 0.39%, REMX 0.53%. The extra basis points buy Sprott's particular definition of critical materials.
• Miner shares move with commodity prices and government policy, so a single-theme equity basket can swing hard in both directions.
• Income is not the job here. Distributions arrive annually or semiannually, not on a monthly rhythm.

Full FMTL profile⁠

Full SETM profile⁠