HYHG vs USHY

HYHGDProShares High Yield - Interest Rate Hedged

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate 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.

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

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.

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

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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 HYHG profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠