MUB vs XMPT

MUBAiShares National Muni Bond ETF

XMPTDVanEck CEF Muni Income ETF

In short

MUB Municipal bonds, indexed and cheap. Since 2007, MUB has packaged investment-grade national munis into tax-exempt monthly income for five basis points a year, and it sits among the deepest pools in the muni-ETF aisle.

XMPT XMPT skips the bonds and buys the funds: roughly 40 U.S.-listed municipal closed-end funds, leverage and NAV discounts included, in one monthly-paying ticker.

Stated mandate

MUB The fund seeks to track an index of investment-grade U.S. municipal bonds, providing diversified exposure to the national municipal-bond market and tax-exempt income.

XMPT XMPT seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of an index representing U.S.-listed closed-end funds investing in U.S.-dollar-denominated, tax-exempt markets.

Why people hold it

• MUB 0.05% a year against a muni-ETF median near 0.30%. In a category built on modest, tax-exempt yields, that fee gap is real money left in the fund.
• The benchmark is AMT-free: the ICE AMT-Free US National Municipal Index screens out munis whose interest can be pulled into the alternative minimum tax.ishares.com
• Tracks its index closely, one of the tighter jobs in its peer group, and distributes monthly. A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively.
• Broad investment-grade exposure across the national muni market, spread over thousands of issuers rather than one state's budget.ishares.com

• XMPT One ticker for a corner of the market that otherwise means buying muni closed-end funds one at a time, then tracking each fund's discount yourself.vaneck.com
• The index sorts muni closed-end funds into leveraged, unleveraged and high-yield buckets, and leans weight toward those trading at discounts to NAV.vaneck.com
• Pays monthly, drawn from closed-end funds that invest in U.S.-dollar-denominated, tax-exempt municipal markets.
• Trading since 2011, so its record covers real rate spikes and discount swings, not a backtest.

Worth knowing

• MUB Two rivals undercut it: VTEB and SCMB both run 0.03%. A two-basis-point gap is small, but it is a gap.
• A bond fund with no maturity date to hold to. Share prices move with interest rates and muni credit conditions, both directions.
• National by design, so no single-state tilt and no in-state tax angle. iShares runs state-specific muni funds such as NYF for that job.

• XMPT All-in cost is 3.4%, above the muni category median; plain index funds like VTEB (0.03%) and MUB (0.05%) sit at the far other end.
• Most of that headline figure is the underlying funds' own fees, folded in under SEC fund-of-funds rules; VanEck's direct management fee is the smaller piece.vaneck.comsec.gov
• Discounts to NAV can widen as easily as they narrow, and leverage inside the underlying funds amplifies muni moves in both directions.vaneck.comvaneck.com 2

Full MUB profile⁠

Full XMPT profile⁠