Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
HYG vs HYGW: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, HYG returned +1.3% to HYGW's +3.4%, and HYG charges 0.49% to HYGW's 0.69%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about HYG and HYGW
Net assets: $17.5bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF, and $110m on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares HYG Premium Income+ ETF.
Pair scorecard
HYG costs 0.20 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.1 points; HYG is far larger, $16.6bn against $110m.
| Measure | HYG | HYGW |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +1.3% | +3.4% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 4.4% | fell 7.1% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 15.9% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 64% of the Oct 7, 2026 payment | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Markit iBoxx USD Liquid High Yield Index | Benchmark: US high yield bonds, measured through HYG |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.49% | 0.69% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 23, 2026 | $16.6bn | $110m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Sep 2, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 216 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: HYG against IUSB, Jun 20, 2014 to Oct 23, 2026; HYGW against HYG, Sep 2, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026.
HYG returned more: +31.8% to +25.9%. HYGW swung less: 3.9% to 6.0%. HYGW fell less at its worst: −4.4% to −5.8%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | HYG | HYGW | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +31.8% | +25.9% | HYG | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +6.9% | +5.7% | HYG | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +3.7% | −26.8% | HYG | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 6.0% | 3.9% | HYGW | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 3.9% | 2.9% | HYGW | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −5.8% | −4.4% | HYGW | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 62.1% | 56.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 48.4% | 51.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.55 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.31 | 0.73 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.38 | 0.27 | HYG | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.59 | 0.37 | HYG | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.019 | 0.019 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 1.18 | 1.31 | HYGW (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IUSB | HYG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +1.9% a year | −0.2% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.87 | −0.20 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −2.4% to +6.1% | −2.2% to +1.8% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.25 | −0.36 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 7.6% | 3.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 216 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, HYG and HYGW hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
HYG and HYGW on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Cash paid: distributions over the window, as a share of the starting price.
HYG and HYGW do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. HYG follows Markit iBoxx USD Liquid High Yield Index and HYGW is measured against US high yield bonds through HYG.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 HYG returned +1.3% and HYGW +3.4% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.1 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
HYG
HYG tracks an index of US high yield bonds. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.3% with distributions reinvested, against −1.2% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Universal Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.49% a year.
HYGW
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, HYGW paid 10.3% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 7.1%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +3.4%. US high yield bonds (HYG) returned +1.3% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 2.1 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 15.9%, paid monthly. iShares estimates that 64% of the distribution paid Oct 7, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
Questions people ask
- Are HYG and HYGW in the same category?
- HYG is a bond ETF and HYGW is an option-income ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, HYG or HYGW?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, HYG returned +1.3% and HYGW +3.4%.
- Which is cheaper, HYG or HYGW?
- HYG is cheaper, by 0.20 percentage points a year. That is about $20 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, HYG against HYGW, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/hyg-vs-hygw
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). HYG against HYGW. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/hyg-vs-hygw
[HYG against HYGW (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/hyg-vs-hygw)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.