URA vs URNJ

URABGlobal X Uranium ETF

URNJDSprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF

In short

URA The original US uranium ETF, trading since 2010, long before the nuclear theme got crowded. It holds roughly 50 names spanning miners and nuclear-component makers, so the reactor supply chain rides along with the yellowcake.

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

URA The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive Global Uranium & Nuclear Components Total Return Index. It concentrates at least 80% of assets in companies involved in uranium or nuclear-component activities.

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

• URA Launched in 2010, the first US fund on this theme, and today a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded name. Size and volume usually mean tighter spreads for the person clicking buy.
• 0.69% expense ratio sits below the typical fee among uranium and nuclear funds, which is rare for a single-theme product this specialized.
• Not a pure miner basket. The index reaches into nuclear components too, with at least 80% of assets in uranium or nuclear-component companies, worldwide.
• Rates as one of the stronger builds in its uranium and nuclear peer group on cost, tradability and staying power.

• 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

• URA One theme, about 50 stocks. Uranium prices, mine permits and reactor policy move the whole basket at once, and the ride has historically been bumpy.
• A cheaper shelf-mate exists: NLR charges 0.52% for a nearby uranium and nuclear mandate.
• Global mandate means overseas miners, so foreign currency and permitting regimes come with the package. Distributions arrive once or twice a year, not monthly.

• 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 URA profile⁠

Full URNJ profile⁠