HYDW vs SPHY

HYDWAXtrackers Low Beta High Yield Bond ETF

SPHYAState Street SPDR Portfolio 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.

SPHY State Street's junk-bond workhorse: roughly 1,900 US high yield bonds in one wrapper for 0.05% a year, a fraction of what the typical high yield ETF charges, with income paid 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.

SPHY The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the ICE BofA US High Yield Index.

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.

• SPHY 0.05% a year against a peer-group median about eight times higher. In high yield, the fee comes straight out of coupon income, so the gap does real work.
• Holds about 1,900 bonds tracking the ICE BofA US High Yield Index, broad enough that no single issuer's trouble dominates the portfolio.ssga.com
• Live since 2012, a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and has stuck tightly to its stated index rather than drifting from the mandate.
• Distributions arrive monthly, in step with how the underlying coupons come in.

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.

• SPHY This is below-investment-grade credit. Defaults and spread moves drive the price far more than Treasury yields do, and sell-offs in this asset class can be sharp.
• Fees here are already near the floor: SCYB lists 0.03% and HYLB matches at 0.05%, so the cost edge over the strongest peers is narrow.
• Scope is US high yield corporates, full stop. No investment-grade ballast, no emerging market debt, nothing to soften a credit drawdown from inside the fund.ssga.com

Full HYDW profile⁠

Full SPHY profile⁠