iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF
$22.97−0.14 (−0.58%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.34%
- Fund size
- $318M
- 1Y return
- +2.2%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 11.64%
- Volume · 30D
- 0.1M sh
- NAV per share
- $23.08
- 52W range
The ETF.net LQDW Grade
Score 85 of 100 sits in the A band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.AScore 100Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 97Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.BScore 66Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 67Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 100Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 80Category rank
Our read on LQDW
ACovered calls, but on bonds. LQDW owns iShares' flagship investment-grade corporate bond fund and writes monthly calls against it, paying distributions monthly, at less than half the option-income cohort's median fee.
The fund seeks to track a strategy holding LQD while writing monthly covered calls to generate income.
Why people hold it
- At 0.34%, it undercuts the typical option-income fund by well over half (cohort median 0.75%), so less of the premium collected leaks out as fees.
- One ticker buys the whole trade: shares of LQD plus a rules-based monthly call overlay. No options approval, no roll dates to babysit.ishares.com
- A thin niche. Most option-income funds write calls on stock baskets; this one sits on investment-grade corporate credit instead.
- Distributions land monthly, and since its 2022 launch the fund has stuck closely to its stated strategy, among the tighter implementations in its peer group.
Worth knowing
- Written calls cap the upside. If corporate bonds rally hard, the premium collected is the consolation for price gains handed to the call buyer.
- Premium cushions, it does not shield. Widening credit spreads or rising rates still hit the underlying bond portfolio.
- Mid-sized and moderately traded rather than a giant, so spreads can run wider than in the biggest option-income names, especially in fast markets.
LQDW Holdings
- Bonds
- —
- 2%
- BLK CSH FND TREASURY SL AGENCY
Geography
- United States100.00%
LQDW Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | LQDW |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +0.5% |
| 1 month | −0.3% |
| 3 months | −1.2% |
| 1 year | +2.2% |
| 3 years | +3.6% |
| 5 years | — |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | LQDW |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +0.5% | |
| 2025 | +9.1% | |
| 2024 | +2.6% | |
| 2023 | +4.0% | |
| 2022 | −6.8% |
LQDW in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on LQDW yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
LQDW Dividends
- 11.64%
- $2.69
- $0.15 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2, 2026 | Sep 8, 2026 | $0.15 |
| Aug 4, 2026 | Aug 7, 2026 | $0.20 |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Jul 8, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Jun 2, 2026 | Jun 5, 2026 | $0.18 |
| May 4, 2026 | May 7, 2026 | $0.17 |
| Apr 2, 2026 | Apr 8, 2026 | $0.30 |
| Mar 3, 2026 | Mar 6, 2026 | $0.16 |
| Feb 3, 2026 | Feb 6, 2026 | $0.22 |
| Dec 23, 2025 | Dec 29, 2025 | $0.27 |
| Dec 2, 2025 | Dec 5, 2025 | $0.27 |
| Nov 4, 2025 | Nov 7, 2025 | $0.34 |
| Oct 2, 2025 | Oct 7, 2025 | $0.24 |
LQDW Risk
- 4.1%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- −0.16
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −9.2%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.59
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
LQDW Cost
- The middle half of Index Option Income funds
- Median 0.81%
No Index Option Income fund charges less.