SPTI vs TYA

SPTIAState Street SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Treasury ETF

TYADSimplify Intermediate Term Treasury Futures Strategy ETF

In short

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.

TYA Most intermediate Treasury funds own intermediate Treasuries. TYA stacks intermediate-curve Treasury futures to target the duration of the ICE 20+ Year US Treasury Index, sourcing long-end rate exposure from the belly of the curve.

Stated mandate

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.

TYA The fund seeks quarterly total returns that match or exceed the ICE US Treasury 20+ Year Index before fees and expenses. It uses intermediate-curve Treasury futures to target the duration of that long-term Treasury index.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• TYA Unusual mandate: it aims for quarterly total returns matching or beating the ICE 20+ Year US Treasury Index before fees, built from intermediate Treasury futures rather than 30-year bonds.simplify.us
• Nothing else in its intermediate Treasury cohort works this way. Peers like SPTI and SCHR simply hold the 3-10 year part of the curve.
• Duration is delivered through futures, not a pile of cash long bonds, and the fund distributes monthly.
• Live since 2021, so there is a multi-year record of the strategy running in real markets rather than a backtest.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• TYA It charges 0.25%, above the cohort median near 0.15% and many times the plain trackers: SPTI and SCHR run 0.03%.
• Intermediate label, long-end sensitivity. Targeting a 20+ year index's duration means rate moves hit the price much harder than in a straight 3-10 year Treasury fund.
• Futures rolls, margin and collateral add moving parts a cash bond fund does not have, and as a moderately traded fund its spreads can run wider than the cohort's giants.

Full SPTI profile⁠

Full TYA profile⁠