BNDS vs USHY

BNDSDInfrastructure Capital Bond Income ETF

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

In short

BNDS Most high yield bond ETFs track an index for pennies. BNDS goes the other way: active picks in undervalued corporate bonds, a preferred stock sleeve, and covered calls written on liquid bond ETFs, paid out monthly, for 0.88%.

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

BNDS The Fund seeks to maximize current income while also pursuing opportunities for capital appreciation.

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

Why people hold it

• BNDS The real differentiator: BNDS buys liquid bond ETFs with established options markets and writes covered calls on them, turning volatility into a second income stream alongside coupons.infracapfunds.comsec.gov
• Unconstrained by design: at least 80% in fixed income with an emphasis on corporates, but free to roam municipals, governments, credit qualities and maturities.
• Current income is the stated first objective, capital appreciation the second, and the cash goes out monthly rather than quarterly.
• Run by InfraCap founder Jay Hatfield, who also manages the firm's preferred stock and MLP income funds and has spent close to three decades in credit and income investing.infracapfunds.combusinesswire.com

• 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

• BNDS At 0.88% with no waiver trimming it, the fee sits above the category median and well above index trackers like SCYB at 0.03% or USHY at 0.08% doing the plain vanilla job.
• Covered calls cap how far the positions they are written against can run, and the fund uses a modest amount of leverage, which magnifies moves in both directions.infracapfunds.comsec.gov
• Launched in January 2025, so the track record is short, and it trades lighter than the category's index giants, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads at the moment of trade.

• 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 BNDS profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠