HYDW vs SCYB

HYDWAXtrackers Low Beta High Yield Bond ETF

SCYBASchwab High Yield Bond ETF

In short

HYDW High yield with the volatility dial turned down. HYDW tracks a Solactive index that screens the junk bond market for lower-beta issues, and charges half the fee its category typically asks.

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

HYDW The fund passively seeks to track the performance of a Solactive index covering U.S.-dollar high-yield corporate bonds with potentially lower beta than the broader high-yield corporate bond market.

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

• HYDW Costs 0.20% a year against a category median of 0.40%, so the low-beta tilt does not come with a boutique price tag.
• The mandate is specific: passively track the Solactive USD High Yield Corporates Total Market Low Beta Index, built for lower beta than the broad high-yield market.
• Roughly 600 bonds and monthly distributions, so no single issuer carries the portfolio and income arrives on a regular cadence.
• Running since 2018 with a passive index rulebook, it sits in the upper half of a crowded high-yield field on our review.

• 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

• HYDW Thinly traded next to high-yield heavyweights like USHY and SPHY, which can mean wider spreads at the moment you transact.
• Lower beta is not low risk. This is still below-investment-grade corporate credit, and the screen tilts the exposure rather than removing it.
• Plain broad high-yield trackers in the same cohort, including sibling HYLB, run cheaper. The low-beta screen is what the extra fee buys.

• 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 HYDW profile⁠

Full SCYB profile⁠