CDX vs SCYB

CDXCSimplify High Yield ETF

SCYBASchwab High Yield Bond ETF

In short

CDX Most high yield ETFs buy the bonds. Simplify's CDX rents the exposure through swaps and layers a quality-versus-junk hedge on top. An active, derivatives-first route into junk credit, priced like one.

SCYB Three basis points for the broad US high-yield corporate market. Schwab undercuts a category where the typical fund charges more than ten times as much, spreading the bet across roughly 1,800 bonds and paying monthly.

Stated mandate

CDX Effective September 2, 2025, the fund's stated objective is to maximize total return. Its strategy continues to obtain primarily high-yield bond exposure through swaps and a credit-hedge derivatives approach.

SCYB The fund follows a rules-based strategy intended to track the high-yield bond market, primarily through bonds in the Bloomberg Barclays US Corporate High Yield Total Return Index and similar derivatives.

Why people hold it

• CDX Gets its high yield exposure through swaps rather than a warehouse of individual bonds, a structurally different plumbing than the index funds that dominate this category.
• Pairs that exposure with an advertised quality-versus-junk hedge, an attempt to blunt the weakest end of the credit spectrum instead of owning the whole market as-is.
• Pays monthly and spreads exposure across roughly 240 positions, so income arrives on a regular cadence rather than quarterly.
• Running since 2022, it has a real operating history through a full credit cycle rather than a launch-week track record.

• SCYB 0.03% a year against a category median of 0.40%. Even the cheap rivals sit above it: SPHY at 0.05%, USHY at 0.08%.
• Tracks the same Bloomberg US Corporate High Yield index as BKHY, which charges 0.22%. Same map, cheaper toll.
• Roughly 1,800 bonds, so no single issuer's blowup drives the outcome. Rules-based and passive, and it has hugged its index closely.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and pays monthly, which matters in a corner of the market where getting out cheaply is half the job.

Worth knowing

• CDX It charges 0.50%, above the 0.40% typical for high yield ETFs and many multiples of index peers like SCYB and SPHY, which run on a few basis points.
• The hedge sleeve costs something to carry. Derivatives-based credit exposure also behaves differently than a bond portfolio, especially in fast-moving markets.
• The stated objective was reset to maximizing total return in September 2025, so the fund's older record predates its current mandate.

• SCYB High yield means below-investment-grade credit. These bonds behave more like stocks than Treasuries when the economy sours, and the extra income is the payment for that risk.
• Launched in 2023, so it has a shorter record than rivals that have traded through more credit cycles.
• The strategy can hold derivatives alongside the bonds themselves to track the index, one layer beyond plain bond ownership.

Full CDX profile⁠

Full SCYB profile⁠