ICSH vs SPTU

ICSHAiShares Ultra Short Duration Bond Active ETF

SPTUAState Street SPDR Portfolio Ultra Short T-Bill ETF

In short

ICSH BlackRock's active cash-parking sleeve, live since 2013: roughly 250 ultra-short investment-grade bonds and money market instruments, run for current income with preservation of capital, at 0.08% a year.

SPTU State Street already owns the T-bill aisle with BIL. SPTU is the house undercutting itself: the same firm's bill exposure at 0.05% a year, stretched across the whole one-to-twelve-month curve instead of just the front slice.

Stated mandate

ICSH The fund seeks current income consistent with preservation of capital through actively managed exposure to ultra-short-term investment-grade bonds and money market instruments.

SPTU The ETF seeks to provide investment results that generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the ICE BofA US Treasury Bill Index. It invests in U.S. Treasury bills with remaining maturities of at least one month and less than twelve months.

Why people hold it

• ICSH At 0.08% a year it undercuts the typical cash-alternative ETF, which charges about 0.20%, and comes in below top-rated rivals like FLUD and JPST.
• Actively managed rather than a fixed ladder: the team picks across ultra-short investment-grade bonds and money market instruments, spread over roughly 250 positions.ishares.com
• Trading since 2013 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that changes hands actively, giving it one of the longer records in the cash-alternative aisle.
• Sits in the top quartile of its cash-alternative peer group, helped by high-quality holdings and low cost.

• SPTU Charges 0.05% a year, roughly a third of the 0.14% on State Street's older, far larger bill fund BIL for a closely related job.ssga.com
• Owns the full bill curve, one month out to twelve, where most cash-parking rivals stop at three months. One ticker instead of a hand-built ladder.ssga.com
• Plain plumbing: a passive index fund holding roughly 50 US Treasury bills. No corporate paper, no derivatives overlay, no yield-chasing detour.
• Its portfolio matches the label it sells: the ICE BofA US Treasury Bill Index, and nothing hiding behind it.

Worth knowing

• ICSH Not a money market fund. The share price floats, and preservation of capital is the stated aim, not a promise.ishares.com
• It holds investment-grade corporate paper alongside money market instruments, so it carries credit risk a Treasury-bill-only fund does not.ishares.com
• It pays monthly, but the amount rides short-term rates, and as an active fund its results can drift from its 6-month T-bill reference index either way.

• SPTU Launched in October 2025, so the track record is thin and the fund is still building its asset base next to entrenched competitors.
• Thinly traded so far. Spreads can run wider and less predictable than in the category's most heavily traded names.
• Reaching out to twelve-month bills means slightly more price sensitivity to rate moves than 0-3 month funds like VBIL or CLIP, and payouts have not settled into a fixed schedule.

Full ICSH profile⁠

Full SPTU profile⁠