MINV vs XT

MINVDMatthews Asia Innovators Active ETF

XTAiShares Future Exponential Technologies ETF

In short

MINV Most disruptive-innovation ETFs shop in Silicon Valley. This one hunts in Asia ex-Japan, with a manager hand-picking roughly 40 stocks instead of tracking an index, run by a firm that has covered the region since 1991.

XT Innovation, spread thin on purpose. XT holds roughly 200 global companies scored by Morningstar analysts for exposure to a handful of exponential tech themes, so no single moonshot carries the fund.

Stated mandate

MINV The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing at least 80% of net assets in common and preferred stocks of Asia-located companies that Matthews identifies as innovators in products, services, processes, business models, management, technology use, or market development.

XT XT seeks to track an index of stocks from developed and emerging markets whose companies create or use exponential technologies. The strategy targets technologies with potential economic benefits, including the ability to displace older technologies or create new markets.

Why people hold it

• MINV Actively managed and concentrated: roughly 40 Asia-located stocks chosen by analysts, not pulled from an index screen.
• Defines innovation broadly. Business models, management, and market development count, not just chips and software, so an old-line company can make the cut.
• Matthews has focused on Asia since 1991 and launched MINV in 2022 among its first active ETFs, putting a long-running specialty in an ETF wrapper.etfgi.com
• Benchmarked to the MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Index, so the stock picking is measured against the plain regional market.

• XT Cheap for the theme at 0.46% a year, below the typical fee in its disruptive-innovation cohort and under peers like TRFM and FDTX.
• Human fingerprint on the stock list: Morningstar equity analysts score companies on theme exposure instead of sorting by keywords or revenue tags.sec.govcontentstack.io
• Global by construction (developed and emerging markets) and not fenced into the tech sector, so a drugmaker or an industrial can qualify on theme exposure.sec.gov
• Launched in 2015 and now a multi-billion-dollar iShares fund, it stands among the stronger builds in its innovation peer group.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• MINV Charges 0.79% a year, above the 0.65% median for innovation ETFs, where index trackers like KOMP run 0.20%. That is the price of on-the-ground research.
• Thinly traded. Limit orders matter here, and spreads can widen when the underlying Asian markets are closed.
• One region, about 40 names, and a mandate that can include frontier markets. Policy shocks in Asia land harder here than in a globally spread basket.

• XT The index has been reworked since launch (weighting scheme, theme list), and themes get an annual review, so today's tilt is not fixed forever.morningstar.comsec.gov
• Moderately traded rather than a household name, which can mean wider spreads than the biggest tech ETFs.
• About 200 positions dilutes any single breakout winner, and distributions land only once or twice a year.

Full MINV profile⁠

Full XT profile⁠