HYHG vs SPHY

HYHGDProShares High Yield - Interest Rate Hedged

SPHYAState Street SPDR Portfolio 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.

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

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.

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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 HYHG profile⁠

Full SPHY profile⁠