SCYB vs ZTOP

SCYBASchwab High Yield Bond ETF

ZTOPBF/m High Yield 100 ETF

In short

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.

ZTOP Most junk-bond funds sample the whole market. This one holds only the 100 largest, most liquid US high-yield issuers, weights them equally, and reshuffles monthly. A quality screen, not a market cross-section.

Stated mandate

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.

ZTOP The Fund seeks before-fee-and-expense results that generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield Top 100 Quality Select Equal Weighted Index.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• ZTOP Equal weighting means no single borrower dominates, and the index is reconstituted and rebalanced monthly to stay on the biggest, most liquid issuers.businesswire.comfminvest.com
• The index rules screen out pay-in-kind and zero-coupon bonds, the corners of junk where cash actually stops showing up.bbhub.io
• The 0.39% fee sits right at the high-yield category median, and the fund pays monthly.
• The portfolio matches its stated mandate closely, and it lands in the upper half of a crowded high-yield field.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• ZTOP Plain-vanilla rivals cost a fraction of this: SCYB, SPHY and USHY all price under a tenth of a percent. The screen is what you are paying up for.
• Launched in 2025, so it has not yet traded through a full credit cycle, and its history is short next to the category's veterans.
• Concentrating on the largest issuers tilts the portfolio up in credit quality and away from the deep-discount, lower-rated end of junk.fminvest.cometftrends.com

Full SCYB profile⁠

Full ZTOP profile⁠