# What is a high-yield bond ETF?

> As of Nov 4, 2026, ETFIQ covers 100 high-yield bond ETFs at a median fee of 0.40%, and 131 bond funds take half their credit risk below investment grade.

Data as of Nov 4, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

## What is a high-yield bond ETF?

Data as of Nov 4, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

As of Nov 4, 2026, ETFIQ covers 100 high-yield bond ETFs at a median fee of 0.40%, and 131 bond funds take half their credit risk below investment grade.

### In plain words

A high-yield bond ETF owns bonds from companies with lower credit ratings, often called junk bonds. They pay more interest because default is likelier, and the fund spreads that risk over many issuers.

ETFIQ counts 100 high-yield funds at a median fee of 0.40%. 131 bond funds take half or more of their credit risk from below investment grade, including funds not named high yield. Credit risk shows up as falls when the economy weakens, at the same time as stocks. ETFIQ reads each fund’s own bond list, not its name.

### Questions

Is high yield the same as junk? Yes. Both mean bonds rated below investment grade.

How does ETFIQ measure credit risk? From the bonds each fund files, counting how much of its credit spread risk is below investment grade.

Why not trust the name? A name is a hope. The bond list is the fact.

### Where to next

---

Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.
Cite: ETFIQ, What is a high-yield bond ETF?, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/learn/what-is-a-high-yield-bond-etf
Licence: https://etfiq.com/license/ Data ETFIQ computes is free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.
HTML: https://etfiq.com/learn/what-is-a-high-yield-bond-etf