FTXR vs JETS

FTXRCFirst Trust Nasdaq Transportation ETF

JETSCU.S. Global Jets ETF

In short

FTXR Transportation with a screen on top. FTXR holds about 40 US names that move goods and people (rails, truckers, airlines, parcel), ranked on momentum and profitability instead of sheer size.

JETS Airlines, straight up. Where its transport-fund peers spread across rails and truckers, JETS buys the carriers, the plane makers and the airports, weighting the four largest U.S. airlines heaviest. Live since 2015.

Stated mandate

FTXR The fund seeks to generally track the price and yield of the Nasdaq US Smart TransportationTM Index before fees and expenses. It uses an indexing approach to replicate the index's holdings and weightings.

JETS The Fund seeks to track the performance of the U.S. Global Jets Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• FTXR The Nasdaq US Smart Transportation Index scores companies on momentum and profitability and weights them on those scores, so the biggest firm isn't automatically the biggest position.
• About 40 holdings, all in transportation. A focused read on freight and travel rather than a diluted industrials basket.
• Live since 2016, so it carries a full-cycle record in a niche where narrow funds often don't stick around. Cash goes out quarterly.

• JETS A tiered index rather than pure market cap: the four largest U.S. carriers get the fattest slices, then smaller airlines, manufacturers and airports step down from there.usglobaletfs.com
• Global by design. The index screens airline companies listed on exchanges worldwide, so non-U.S. carriers and airport operators sit alongside the big domestic names.usglobaletfs.com
• Reconstituted and rebalanced every March, June, September and December, so weights snap back to the rulebook instead of riding whichever airline just ran.usglobaletfs.comsec.gov
• Actively traded for a niche sector fund, which makes it one of the easier ways to step in and out of this corner of the market.

Worth knowing

• FTXR The 0.60% fee sits at the middle of the transportation pack but above plain cap-weighted rivals IYT (0.38%) and XTN (0.35%), so the factor screen carries a price.
• One cyclical corner of the economy, roughly 40 stocks deep: fuel, freight rates and shipping demand hit the whole basket at once, so swings run wider than a broad market fund.
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy for the category, which can show up as wider spreads in fast markets.

• JETS The 0.60% fee matches the category median but runs well above broad-transport options like XTN (0.35%) and IYT (0.38%), which own railroads and truckers too.
• One industry, roughly 40 stocks, top tier deliberately oversized. Moves can be sharp and can look nothing like the broad market.usglobaletfs.com
• Cash comes back once or twice a year, not quarterly or monthly.

Full FTXR profile⁠

Full JETS profile⁠