HYSA vs SPHY

HYSADBondBloxx High Yield Income ETF

SPHYAState Street SPDR Portfolio 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.

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

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).

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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 HYSA profile⁠

Full SPHY profile⁠