HYSA vs SCYB

HYSADBondBloxx High Yield Income ETF

SCYBASchwab High Yield Bond ETF

In short

HYSA Most high-yield ETFs buy the whole junk market and sit still. HYSA is an active call on which slice to own, rotating across BB, B and CCC rated credit through BondBloxx's own ratings-sliced bond ETFs.

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

HYSA Seeks to primarily invest in U.S. dollar-denominated, high-yield corporate bonds across multiple fixed-income sectors by investing in other ETFs (a fund-of-funds, actively managed, sector-rotation approach).

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

• HYSA One ticket for an active rotation across the BB, B and CCC tiers of US dollar high yield, built from BondBloxx's own credit-rating bond ETFs.bondbloxxetf.com
• Measured against the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index, so the manager's tier calls are visible against a plain-vanilla junk benchmark.
• Distributions land monthly, and the mandate sticks to US dollar denominated corporate credit rather than roaming into other currencies.

• 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

• HYSA At 0.55% a year it runs above the typical high-yield ETF, and index-tracking rivals like SCYB (0.03%) and SPHY (0.05%) charge a sliver of that.
• A non-diversified fund of funds drawing on one issuer's lineup: results ride on the manager's credit-tier calls, not just on broad high-yield beta.bondbloxxetf.com
• Launched in 2023 and still a small, moderately traded fund in a category stocked with multi-billion-dollar incumbents.

• 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 HYSA profile⁠

Full SCYB profile⁠