SPTS vs UTWO

SPTSAState Street SPDR Portfolio Short Term Treasury ETF

UTWOBUS Treasury 2 Year Note ETF

In short

SPTS U.S. Treasury notes maturing in one to three years, wrapped at three basis points. SPTS sits in the cheapest tier of the short-Treasury aisle, charging a fifth of the category median for the same plain-vanilla job.

UTWO Most short Treasury funds hand you a 1-3 year blend. UTWO aims at a single spot on the curve, the 2-year note segment, and pays monthly. A precision tool from F/m, on the market since 2022.

Stated mandate

SPTS The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury Index before fees and expenses, providing exposure to U.S. Treasury securities with remaining maturities between 1 and 3 years.

UTWO The fund is designed to provide exposure to the U.S. Treasury 2-year note segment. It may invest up to 20% of assets outside its underlying index when the adviser believes those investments will improve tracking.

Why people hold it

• SPTS Charges 0.03% a year against a 0.15% median for short-Treasury funds. On cash-like money, the fee line is the part that doesn't drift.
• Follows the Bloomberg 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury Index closely, one of the tightest index fits among its short-Treasury peers.ssga.com
• Roughly 100 U.S. Treasury notes and nothing else. No corporates, no mortgages, no credit surprises hiding in the basket. Distributions land monthly.
• Trading since 2011 and now a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund, so it isn't a thin newcomer you have to nurse in and out of.

• UTWO Targets one point on the yield curve, the 2-year note segment, instead of a 1-3 year mixture. Your duration lands where you pointed it.
• Hews closely to its stated Treasury mandate, with very little drift between what the prospectus promises and what the fund actually holds.
• Distributions arrive monthly, a steadier cadence than the twice-a-year coupon rhythm of the underlying Treasury paper.
• The 0.15% fee sits right at the median for short Treasury ETFs, matching what iShares charges on SHY.

Worth knowing

• SPTS Short maturities dampen price swings, they don't erase them. When short-term rates move, the fund's price and its payouts move too.
• Government paper only, so there's no credit spread in the income. The yield is whatever the front end of the Treasury curve is paying.
• VGSH and SCHO match the 0.03% fee on the same slice of the curve. Cost alone won't separate them; execution and platform access will.

• UTWO Median is not cheap here. The broad index giants (VGSH, SCHO, SPTS) run 0.03%, so the curve precision costs you roughly five times their fee.
• The fund may hold up to 20% of assets outside its index when the adviser believes it improves tracking, so exposure is not locked to a single note.
• A 2022 launch and a mid-size asset base mean a shorter record and thinner trading than the decades-old 1-3 year stalwarts in the group.

Full SPTS profile⁠

Full UTWO profile⁠