CDX vs USHY

CDXCSimplify High Yield ETF

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate 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.

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

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.

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

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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 CDX profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠