USHY vs XBB

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

XBBABondBloxx BB Rated USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

In short

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.

XBB The top rung of the junk-bond ladder, sold on its own. XBB holds only BB-rated US corporate bonds, the notch just below investment grade, instead of blending them with riskier B and CCC paper.

Stated mandate

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

XBB The fund provides exposure to BB-rated, U.S. dollar-denominated high-yield corporate bonds.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• XBB Charges 0.20% a year, about half the typical high-yield ETF fee, for a slice most broad funds don't sell separately.
• One rating tier, one decision: you set the credit rung yourself instead of inheriting whatever mix a broad high-yield index holds.bondbloxxetf.com
• The index caps any single issuer at 2%, so no one borrower dominates the couple hundred bonds inside.bondbloxxetf.com
• Pays monthly, from a BondBloxx high-yield lineup that has been splitting the market by credit rating since 2022.prnewswire.com

Worth knowing

• 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.

• XBB Broad high-yield rivals SCYB, SPHY and USHY charge under a tenth of a percent; the ratings slice costs more.
• BB is the best-rated junk, not investment grade. Default risk and price swings still ride along with the coupon.
• A mid-sized, moderately traded fund rather than a category giant, so trading costs can matter more than with the broad high-yield heavyweights.

Full USHY profile⁠

Full XBB profile⁠