Launched on 03/07/2023, the F/m 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?
Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Because the fund has amassed over $743.82 million, this makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Government Bond ETFs. XBIL is managed by Us Benchmark Series. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the BBG US TRSR BELLWETHER 6M TR USD UNHG ID before fees and expenses.
The Bloomberg US Treasury Bellwether 6M Total Return USD Unhedged Index tracks the most recent or on-the-run 6 Month US Treasury security and is rebalanced on the last day of each month.
Cost & Other Expenses
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.15% for XBIL, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.77%.
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.
When you look at individual holdings, United States Treasury Bill 09/24/2026 (912797UH8) accounts for about 48.45% of the fund's total assets, followed by United States Treasury Bill 10/01/2026 (912797SA6) and United States Treasury Bill 10/08/2026 (912797UJ4).
The top 10 holdings account for about 100% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has gained about 1.46% and was up about 3.85% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 06/08/2026), respectively. XBIL has traded between $49.99 and $50.21 during this last 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 0.00 and standard deviation of 0.33% for the trailing three-year period. With about 4 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers .
Alternatives
F/m 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.
State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL) tracks Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index and the iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) tracks ICE 0-3 MONTH US TREASURY SECURITIES IND. State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF has $46.08 billion in assets, iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF has $92.78 billion. BIL has an expense ratio of 0.14% and SGOV changes 0.09%.
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
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F/m US Treasury 6 Month Bill ETF (XBIL): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).