KSTR vs MCHI

KSTRDKraneShares China Technology & Semiconductor STAR 50 Index ETF

MCHIAiShares MSCI China ETF

In short

KSTR A concentrated way into Shanghai's Science and Technology Innovation Board: KSTR tracks the STAR 50, roughly 50 A-share tech and chip names, and no other China fund in its peer group follows that benchmark.

MCHI The default one-ticker way to own China. MCHI has tracked the MSCI China Index since 2011, holding roughly 600 stocks open to international investors, and it stays actively traded.

Stated mandate

KSTR The Fund seeks to provide investment results that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the SSE Science and Technology Innovation Board 50 Index.

MCHI The fund seeks to track an index of Chinese equities available to international investors.

Why people hold it

• KSTR Tracks the SSE Science and Technology Innovation Board 50 Index, about 50 Shanghai-listed names. No other China ETF in its peer group follows the same benchmark.
• Actively traded for a niche single-country fund, so getting in and out tends to be straightforward rather than a spread-hunting exercise.
• Plain plumbing: a 1940 Act fund following a published index, run since 2021 by a China-focused specialist, with a few hundred million in assets behind it.

• MCHI One ticker, roughly 600 Chinese stocks. Instead of picking among share classes and listings, you get the MSCI China Index (Net) in a single line item.ishares.com
• 0.59% expense ratio, below the middle of the single-country China pack, and the fund has hewed closely to its stated index mandate.
• Running since 2011 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, which is why it turns up as the reference China holding in so many portfolios.
• One of the stronger implementations in its peer group on tradability and staying power, both scored in the top tier of the China cohort.

Worth knowing

• KSTR At 0.89% a year, it costs more than the typical China ETF in its group. That is the toll for a board most issuers skip.
• Roughly 50 stocks from one exchange board, tilted toward semiconductors, so moves land harder than in broad China funds like MCHI or FLCH.
• Across its China peer group it lands in the bottom quarter on our overall read, weighed down mainly by cost and how narrow the portfolio is.

• MCHI Cheaper broad-China options exist: FLCH charges 0.19% and JPMorgan's active JCHI 0.15%. You are paying up for MCHI's depth and liquidity.
• Single-country equity risk, undiluted. Chinese regulation, currency and policy swings hit the whole basket at once, and the index leans heavily on its biggest names.
• Distributions come once or twice a year, not monthly, so cash flow arrives in lumps.

Full KSTR profile⁠

Full MCHI profile⁠