SPTU vs XHLF

SPTUAState Street SPDR Portfolio Ultra Short T-Bill ETF

XHLFABondBloxx Bloomberg Six Month Target Duration US Treasury ETF

In short

SPTU State Street already owns the T-bill aisle with BIL. SPTU is the house undercutting itself: the same firm's bill exposure at 0.05% a year, stretched across the whole one-to-twelve-month curve instead of just the front slice.

XHLF Most cash-parking funds pick a maturity bucket. XHLF picks a number: it blends Treasury bills to an average duration of about six months, resets to that target monthly, and charges three basis points to do it.

Stated mandate

SPTU The ETF seeks to provide investment results that generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the ICE BofA US Treasury Bill Index. It invests in U.S. Treasury bills with remaining maturities of at least one month and less than twelve months.

XHLF The Fund seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. Treasury securities.

Why people hold it

• SPTU Charges 0.05% a year, roughly a third of the 0.14% on State Street's older, far larger bill fund BIL for a closely related job.ssga.com
• Owns the full bill curve, one month out to twelve, where most cash-parking rivals stop at three months. One ticker instead of a hand-built ladder.ssga.com
• Plain plumbing: a passive index fund holding roughly 50 US Treasury bills. No corporate paper, no derivatives overlay, no yield-chasing detour.
• Its portfolio matches the label it sells: the ICE BofA US Treasury Bill Index, and nothing hiding behind it.

• XHLF Costs 0.03% a year, against a typical short-Treasury peer near 0.14%. In cash-like funds, where returns come from bills everyone owns, fee is the main lever.
• Tracks an index built to hold an average duration of roughly six months, rebalanced monthly, so exposure stays anchored instead of drifting as bills mature.bondbloxxetf.com
• Sits in the gap between 0-3 month bill funds and one-year funds. Its sibling XONE targets a one-year duration at the same 0.03%, so the two can be mixed to dial in duration.
• US Treasury bills only, no credit bets hiding in the portfolio, run in a multi-billion-dollar fund that has stayed close to its index.

Worth knowing

• SPTU Launched in October 2025, so the track record is thin and the fund is still building its asset base next to entrenched competitors.
• Thinly traded so far. Spreads can run wider and less predictable than in the category's most heavily traded names.
• Reaching out to twelve-month bills means slightly more price sensitivity to rate moves than 0-3 month funds like VBIL or CLIP, and payouts have not settled into a fixed schedule.

• XHLF Six months of duration is not zero. Prices move a touch more when yields shift than in 0-3 month bill funds such as BIL or CLIP.
• Income rides whatever Treasury bills happen to pay, and distributions arrive on an irregular rhythm rather than a fixed amount or schedule.
• Volume is moderate next to the largest bill ETFs, so spreads can be a bit wider, which matters more on big tickets than small ones.

Full SPTU profile⁠

Full XHLF profile⁠