HYLS vs USHY

HYLSCFirst Trust Tactical High Yield ETF

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

In short

HYLS Most high yield ETFs buy the index and sit still. HYLS has been actively managed since 2013 and runs long and short bond positions at once, aiming at income first, appreciation second. That tactical wiring costs 0.69%, no fee waiver.

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

HYLS The Fund seeks current income and secondarily capital appreciation through active management. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in below-investment-grade or comparably rated high-yield debt securities.

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

Why people hold it

• HYLS The short book is the whole point: under normal conditions HYLS holds long and short bond positions at once, a lever the index trackers in this category do not have.sec.gov
• Income is the stated first job, appreciation second, with at least 80% of net assets in below-investment-grade debt and cash paid out monthly.
• Trading since 2013 and now a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of roughly 400 bonds, it is a seasoned operation rather than a recent launch.
• The portfolio matches the mandate on paper closely: a high yield book run the way the prospectus describes, with moderate day-to-day trading volume.

• 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

• HYLS At 0.69% with no fee waiver it sits above the category median, while index rivals like SCYB (0.03%) and USHY (0.08%) cost a sliver of that. Active management is what you pay for.
• Shorting and active positioning mean returns can diverge from the index in either direction, and below-investment-grade debt carries default risk.sec.gov
• The monthly payout is a policy, not a coupon: the amount floats with the portfolio's income and the manager's positioning.

• 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 HYLS profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠