We're only a few days into the new year, but investors are still wrestling with where interest rates are headed and what to do in a bond market that seems stuck in "higher-for-longer" mode. Against that backdrop, Global X Management Company decided January 7 was the perfect time to launch something a bit different: six new ETFs that invest in zero-coupon Treasury bonds.

Here's what makes these interesting. The new Global X Zero Coupon Bond 2030 ETF (ZCBA), Global X Zero Coupon Bond 2031 ETF (ZCBB), Global X Zero Coupon Bond 2032 ETF (ZCBC), Global X Zero Coupon Bond 2033 ETF (ZCBE), Global X Zero Coupon Bond 2034 ETF (ZCBF), and Global X Zero Coupon Bond 2035 ETF (ZCBG) all invest in U.S. Treasury STRIPS maturing between 2030 and 2035. Each one carries a 0.07% expense ratio, which is pretty low for fixed-income products.

So what are STRIPS? The name stands for Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities, which is a mouthful. Basically, they're created by taking regular Treasury bonds and separating the interest payments from the principal repayment. Once you do that, you've got zero-coupon bonds that don't pay periodic interest. Instead, you buy them at a discount to their face value, and they gradually appreciate until they mature at par.

The appeal here is eliminating what's called reinvestment risk. With a normal bond, you get interest payments every six months, and then you have to figure out what to do with that cash. If rates have fallen, you're reinvesting at lower yields. With zero-coupon bonds, there's nothing to reinvest. You know exactly what you're getting at maturity, which Global X describes as capital-efficient Treasury exposure.

Each ETF focuses on STRIPS maturing between January 1 and November 30 of its target year, tracking FTSE Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury STRIPS Maturity indices. This gives investors the flexibility to either ladder their maturities across multiple years or concentrate everything in a single maturity date if they've got a specific liability coming due.

According to Global X, this suite fits into their broader push to expand fixed-income offerings that help investors match bond allocations to specific future obligations. The firm noted that defined-maturity exposure is becoming more relevant as rate volatility makes duration management and yield curve positioning trickier to navigate.

The launch reflects a broader shift happening in the bond ETF world. Instead of just buying broad bond funds for income or duration exposure, investors increasingly want precision tools that let them target specific points in time. It's less about generating steady interest income and more about knowing exactly when your money comes back and how much it'll be worth.