The F/m US Treasury 6 Month Bill ETF (XBIL Quick QuoteXBIL - Free Report) made its debut on 03/07/2023, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Government Bond ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.

A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.

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.

This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.

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

The fund is managed by Us Benchmark Series, and has been able to amass over $762.99 million, which makes 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 BBG US TRSR BELLWETHER 6M TR USD UNHG ID.

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

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for XBIL are 0.15%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 3.86%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

The top 10 holdings account for about 100% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, XBIL has gained about 0.87%, and is up about 3.85% in the last one year (as of 04/08/2026). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $49.99 and $50.21.

XBIL has a beta of 0.01 and standard deviation of 0.35% for the trailing three-year period. With about 2 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 $50.83 billion in assets, iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF has $84.79 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

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.