Launched on 03/07/2023, the US Treasury 6 Month Bill ETF (XBIL) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Government Bond ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by Us Benchmark Series, XBIL has amassed assets over $711.76 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Government Bond ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the ICE BOFA US 6-MONTH TREASURY BILL INDEX .
The ICE BofA US 6-Month Treasury Bill Index comprised of a single issue purchased at the beginning of the month and held for a full month. At the end of the month that issue is sold and rolled into a newly selected issue. The issue selected at each month-end rebalancing is the outstanding Treasury Bill that matures closest to, but not beyond, six months from the rebalancing date.
Cost & Other Expenses
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor. And, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
Annual operating expenses for XBIL are 0.15%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 4.73%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 100% of XBIL's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has gained about 0.94% and was up about 4.81% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 03/28/2025), respectively. XBIL has traded between $49.89 and $50.21 during this last 52-week period.
XBIL has a beta of 0 and standard deviation of 0.39% for the trailing three-year period. With about 2 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
US Treasury 6 Month Bill ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Government Bond ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
IShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) tracks ICE 0-3 MONTH US TREASURY SECURITIES IND and the SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL) tracks Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index. IShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF has $38.84 billion in assets, SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF has $42.12 billion. SGOV has an expense ratio of 0.09% and BIL charges 0.14%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Government Bond ETFs.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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US Treasury 6 Month Bill ETF (XBIL): ETF Research Reports SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL): ETF Research Reports iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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