Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
BOND vs SHY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, BOND returned −1.4% to SHY's +1.6%, and SHY charges 0.15% to BOND's 0.54%.
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Net assets: $8.3bn on Jun 30, 2026 for PIMCO Active Bond Exchange-Traded Fund, and $27.4bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
SHY costs 0.39 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.0 points.
| Measure | BOND | SHY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −1.4% | +1.6% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.1%, high on Feb 27, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | No index, actively managed | ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.54% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, BOND as of Jun 30, 2026 and SHY as of Oct 27, 2026 | $8.3bn | $27.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Mar 9, 2012 to Oct 23, 2026 · 763 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: BOND against AGG, Mar 9, 2012 to Oct 23, 2026; SHY against BBSB, Apr 28, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026.
BOND returned more: +47.4% to +21.5%. SHY swung less: 1.3% to 4.9%. SHY fell less at its worst: −5.6% to −19.5%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BOND | SHY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +47.4% | +21.5% | BOND | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +2.7% | +1.3% | BOND | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −12.6% | −3.4% | SHY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 4.9% | 1.3% | SHY | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 3.6% | 0.9% | SHY | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −19.5% | −5.6% | SHY | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 102.2% | 97.9% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 95.5% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.97 | 0.98 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.88 | 0.98 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.21 | −0.32 | BOND | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.28 | −0.47 | BOND | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.010 | −0.012 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.14 | 0.24 | SHY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | AGG | BBSB | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.9% a year | −0.1% a year | SHY not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 2.05 | −0.96 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | 0.0% to +1.7% | −0.4% to +0.1% | SHY includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.53 | −0.43 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.7% | 0.2% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 763 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, BOND and SHY hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
BOND and SHY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
BOND and SHY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. BOND follows No index, actively managed and SHY follows ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 BOND returned −1.4% and SHY +1.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 3.0 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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BOND
BOND is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −1.4% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.54% a year. It sat 3.1% below its high of Feb 27, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
SHY
SHY tracks an index of 1-3 Year Treasury Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.6% with distributions reinvested, against +1.7% for its benchmark, the ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, BOND or SHY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BOND returned −1.4% and SHY +1.6%.
- Which is cheaper, BOND or SHY?
- SHY is cheaper, by 0.39 percentage points a year. That is about $39 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, BOND against SHY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bond-vs-shy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). BOND against SHY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bond-vs-shy
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