Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
HYG vs HYTI: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, HYG returned +1.3% to HYTI's +2.8%, and HYG charges 0.49% to HYTI's 0.65%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $17.5bn for iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF and $84m for FT Vest High Yield & Target Income ETF.
Pair scorecard
HYG costs 0.16 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.5 points; HYG is far larger, $17.5bn against $84m.
| Measure | HYG | HYTI |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +1.3% | +2.8% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 4.4% | fell 7.2% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 10.4% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 64% of the Oct 2, 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% | 0.65% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $17.5bn | $84m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Feb 21, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026 · 87 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: HYG against IUSB, Jun 20, 2014 to Oct 23, 2026; HYTI against HYG, Feb 21, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026.
HYTI returned more: +7.7% to +6.6%. HYTI swung slightly less: 3.8% to 4.1%. HYTI fell less at its worst: −2.9% to −3.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | HYG | HYTI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +6.6% | +7.7% | HYTI | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +3.9% | +4.6% | HYTI | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −3.3% | −8.7% | HYG | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 4.1% | 3.8% | HYTI (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 3.0% | 2.7% | HYTI (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −3.3% | −2.9% | HYTI | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 62.1% | 87.3% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 48.4% | 76.5% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.86 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.31 | 0.85 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | −0.01 | 0.15 | HYTI | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | −0.02 | 0.21 | HYTI | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.019 | 0.007 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 1.18 | 1.57 | HYTI | 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 | +0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.87 | 0.53 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −2.4% to +6.1% | −1.7% to +2.9% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.25 | 0.39 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 7.6% | 1.6% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 87 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, HYG and HYTI 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 HYTI 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 HYTI do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. HYG follows Markit iBoxx USD Liquid High Yield Index and HYTI 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).
- Cost. HYG charges 0.49% of assets a year and HYTI 0.65%, a gap of 0.16 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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.
HYTI
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, HYTI paid 9.9% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 7.2%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +2.8%. US high yield bonds (HYG) returned +1.3% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 1.5 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 10.4%, paid monthly. First Trust estimates that 64% of the distribution paid Oct 2, 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 HYTI in the same category?
- HYG is a bond ETF and HYTI 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 HYTI?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, HYG returned +1.3% and HYTI +2.8%.
- Which is cheaper, HYG or HYTI?
- HYG is cheaper, by 0.16 percentage points a year. That is about $16 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, HYG against HYTI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/hyg-vs-hyti
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). HYG against HYTI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/hyg-vs-hyti
[HYG against HYTI (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/hyg-vs-hyti)
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