SMRF vs URNJ

SMRFBALPS Nautilus SMR, Nuclear & Technology ETF

URNJDSprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF

In short

SMRF Nuclear power meets option-writing. SMRF actively holds about 70 global small-modular-reactor, nuclear and related tech names, then buys and writes options on top to pull income from a famously jumpy theme.

URNJ The high-octane end of the uranium trade: roughly 40 small, micro and mid-cap miners and explorers, with the household-name producers left out. Sprott, a uranium house, co-built the index with Nasdaq.

Stated mandate

SMRF The Fund seeks capital appreciation and income through an actively managed portfolio of equity securities significantly tied to the Nautilus SMR, Nuclear & Technology Index, together with bought and written options.

URNJ The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Nasdaq Sprott Junior Uranium Miners Index.

Why people hold it

• SMRF Charges 0.65% a year, under the median for its options-income peer group and below names like HYGW (0.69%) and SVOL (0.66%).
• One wrapper, two jobs: the fund seeks capital appreciation and income, pairing the stock sleeve with bought and written options.
• Actively managed around the Nautilus SMR, Nuclear & Technology Index rather than bolted to it, so the manager sets the option book.
• Spreads across roughly 70 global holdings instead of a handful of pure-play reactor startups, and the income policy targets a relatively stable payout level.

• URNJ Junior-only by design. The index targets mid-, small- and micro-cap uranium mining companies globally, the exploration and development end rather than the big established producers.sprottetfs.com
• Sprott is a uranium specialist, not a tourist. It co-developed this benchmark with Nasdaq rather than renting a generic thematic index off the shelf.sprottetfs.com
• Roughly 40 names and a few hundred million dollars in assets: the junior theme comes through without the whole fund resting on one or two stocks.

Worth knowing

• SMRF Written calls trade away part of a big rally for premium today. In a runaway nuclear melt-up, the option book is the brake.
• Launched in 2026 with a small asset base and thin trading, so spreads can run wider than in the giants of the category.
• A single-theme portfolio tied to reactors, uranium and power-hungry tech moves on policy and project news, and swings harder than a broad index.

• URNJ Cost is the toll for the small-cap end: 0.80% a year, above the 0.75% typical of uranium funds and well above broader nuclear options like NLR at 0.52%.
• Sprott's own documents call the fund non-diversified and say investors should be willing to accept "a high degree of volatility" and the possibility of significant losses.sprottetfs.com
• It sits toward the back of our uranium and nuclear group, mostly on price and on how much share-price risk the junior end of the mining chain carries.

Full SMRF profile⁠

Full URNJ profile⁠