AOHY vs USHY

AOHYCAngel Oak High Yield Opportunities ETF

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

In short

AOHY An actively managed junk-bond fund in an aisle stacked with ultra-cheap index trackers. The mandate is income first, capital appreciation second, and the cash goes out monthly.

USHY The wide-angle lens on junk bonds: about 1,900 US dollar high yield corporate issues for 0.08% a year, a fifth of what the typical fund in its category charges. Broad, cheap, heavily traded, and it pays monthly.

Stated mandate

AOHY The fund seeks a high level of current income and, secondarily, capital appreciation.

USHY The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds.

Why people hold it

• AOHY Income is the job, not a byproduct: the fund seeks a high level of current income, with capital appreciation named only as a secondary goal.
• Distributions land monthly rather than quarterly, which lines up with how most people actually pay bills.
• The strategy predates the wrapper: this objective traces to a prospectus filed years before the ETF itself launched in 2024.
• Plain 1940 Act fund structure, and our review turned up no structural quirks to work around.

• USHY Charges 0.08% a year while the median high yield fund in its cohort runs 0.40%. Cheap rent on an expensive-to-run corner of the bond market.
• Holds about 1,900 bonds against the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index: the broad market, not a curated slice of the most liquid names.ishares.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund and one of the more actively traded in high yield, which tends to keep bid-ask spreads thin even on busy days.
• Pays monthly and has tracked its index tightly since its 2017 launch, one of the closer index matches in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• AOHY At 0.55% a year it sits above the 0.40% cohort median, and index rivals like SCYB (0.03%) and USHY (0.08%) charge a sliver of that. The premium buys the active call.
• It trades lightly next to the cohort's index heavyweights, so limit orders matter more here than with the big passive names.
• A 2024 launch means a short record, and on our overall read it lands in the lower half of the high yield group.

• USHY High yield means below-investment-grade borrowers. When credit gets stressed this asset class drops with stocks instead of cushioning them.
• Cheaper tickets sit on the same shelf: SCYB at 0.03% and SPHY at 0.05%.
• This is a fund, not a bond ladder. No maturity date hands your principal back; the basket rolls on indefinitely.

Full AOHY profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠