IBTI vs IBTK

IBTIAiShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Treasury ETF

IBTKAiShares iBonds Dec 2030 Term Treasury ETF

In short

IBTI Treasuries that all mature in 2028, bundled into one ticker. IBTI trades like a fund but ages like a bond, and at 0.07% a year it undercuts the typical target-maturity peer.

IBTK A single rung of a Treasury ladder in ETF form: IBTK owns only U.S. government bonds maturing in 2030, so it behaves more like one bond with an end date than an open-ended bond fund.

Stated mandate

IBTI The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. Treasury bonds maturing in 2028.

IBTK The fund seeks to follow an index made up of U.S. Treasury bonds that mature in 2030.

Why people hold it

• IBTI Charges 0.07% a year against a 0.10% median for target-maturity bond funds. On a Treasury portfolio, where the yield is knowable, the fee comes straight off the top.
• Every bond in it matures in 2028, so the portfolio winds down toward a set date rather than rolling on forever like a standard bond index fund.
• US Treasuries only, about 40 of them. No corporate issuer to underwrite, just one slice of the government curve.
• Pays monthly, holds over a billion in assets, and ranks among the stronger implementations in a category otherwise full of thin, niche rungs.

• IBTK Charges 0.07% a year against a 0.10% median for target-maturity bond funds. Cheap matters most where the underlying asset is plain Treasuries.
• Tracks the ICE 2030 Maturity US Treasury Index tightly, one of the cleaner implementations among the 126 target-maturity funds we cover.
• U.S. Treasuries only. No corporate credit in the basket, so what you get is government paper with a 2030 finish line.
• One rung in a stackable set: sibling IBTJ does the same job for 2029 at the same 0.07% fee, letting maturities be laddered year by year.

Worth knowing

• IBTI The defined maturity belongs to the bonds, not to your entry price. Exit before the target year and you take whatever rates have done since.
• This is one point on the yield curve, not a ladder. Covering several maturity years means owning several of these funds.
• Treasury-only means no credit spread. Corporate-bond cousins like VBCB and IBDU take on issuer risk in exchange for the extra yield.

• IBTK Built around one date. As 2030 approaches the bonds' remaining life shortens, so rate sensitivity fades and the fund starts acting like short-term paper.
• Before that date it still moves with rates. A defined maturity is not a defined price along the way.
• Moderately traded rather than heavily traded, a concentrated slice of the Treasury curve held by a couple dozen issues.

Full IBTI profile⁠

Full IBTK profile⁠