MLDR vs SPTI

MLDRBGlobal X Intermediate-Term Treasury Ladder ETF

SPTIAState Street SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Treasury ETF

In short

MLDR One ticker instead of a homemade bond ladder. MLDR follows an index that spreads US Treasuries across maturity rungs from 3 to 10 years and rolls them forward as they age. Pays monthly, costs 0.12% a year.

SPTI Middle-of-the-curve Treasuries and nothing else: notes maturing in 3 to 10 years, wrapped at 0.03% a year. Running since 2007, it is one of the cheapest ways to own that slice of the government bond market.

Stated mandate

MLDR The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the FTSE US Treasury 3-10 Years Laddered Bond Index.

SPTI The fund seeks to deliver returns generally matching the Bloomberg 3-10 Year U.S. Treasury Index before fees and expenses, investing in U.S. Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 3 to 10 years.

Why people hold it

• MLDR At 0.12% a year, it undercuts the median intermediate Treasury fund in its group (0.15%).
• The laddered index keeps maturities spread across the 3-to-10-year range, so bonds roll off and get reinvested on a rolling schedule rather than all at once.globalxetfs.com
• US government paper only, no corporate credit, roughly 70 positions, and cash goes out monthly. What's on the tin is what's in the fund.globalxetfs.com

• SPTI 0.03% a year sits in the cheapest tier of intermediate Treasury funds, well under the category norm and level with Schwab's SCHR at the floor.
• No credit guesswork. Roughly a hundred US Treasury notes, held to mirror the Bloomberg 3-10 Year U.S. Treasury Index.ssga.com
• Index tracking has been among the tightest in its peer group, and income lands monthly.
• Launched in 2007 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.

Worth knowing

• MLDR Plain market-weighted rivals are cheaper: SPTI and SCHR both run 0.03%. The ladder construction is what the extra buys.
• A small, thinly traded fund, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the category's giants. Order size and order type matter more here.
• Launched in 2024, so there's not yet a long record to judge it across a full rate cycle.

• SPTI Intermediate maturities carry real rate sensitivity: a 3-to-10-year book swings more when yields move than a short-bill fund does.
• Treasuries only. No corporates, mortgages or inflation-linked bonds, which makes it a building block rather than a full bond allocation.
• The monthly payout floats with whatever the Treasury curve is paying, so it moves with rates rather than sitting at a set level.

Full MLDR profile⁠

Full SPTI profile⁠