HYHG vs SCYB

HYHGDProShares High Yield - Interest Rate Hedged

SCYBASchwab High Yield Bond ETF

In short

HYHG Most junk-bond ETFs hand you two risks: credit and interest rates. HYHG keeps the credit and shorts Treasury futures to target a duration of zero. A rare build, running since 2013, in a cohort of plain-vanilla high-yield trackers.

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

HYHG HYHG seeks to track the FTSE High Yield (Treasury Rate-Hedged) Index before fees and expenses. Its strategy combines high-yield corporate-bond exposure with short U.S. Treasury futures intended to reduce Treasury interest-rate sensitivity.

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

• HYHG The hedge is built in: short Treasury futures against the bond sleeve, targeting a duration of zero, so results lean on coupons and credit spreads rather than the Treasury curve.proshares.com
• No two-ticket assembly. You get high-yield exposure and the rate hedge in one wrapper, instead of pairing a junk-bond fund with your own short-Treasury position.proshares.com
• Live since 2013, so there is more than a decade of real-world history across rising and falling rate regimes. Holds roughly 230 bonds and pays monthly.
• Tracks the FTSE High Yield (Treasury Rate-Hedged) Index, a published rulebook rather than a manager's discretion.

• 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

• HYHG The hedge costs: 0.50% a year, above the typical high-yield ETF, while broad rivals like SCYB (0.03%) and SPHY (0.05%) charge a sliver of that.
• It hedges Treasury rates, not credit. Defaults and widening spreads still bite, and when yields fall the short futures leg works against the bonds.proshares.com
• A smaller, more thinly traded fund than the giants of the category, so spreads and order type matter more at the point of entry.

• 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 HYHG profile⁠

Full SCYB profile⁠