# USHY ETF: fees, returns, drawdowns and holdings

> What USHY holds, its 0.08% yearly fee, returns by year, its worst drop, and which Tactfolio strategies hold it. Updated daily.

iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (USHY) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) run by iShares (BlackRock). This fund owns about 1,900 bonds from companies with lower credit ratings. It charges 0.08% a year. From October 2017 to October 2026 it returned about 4.4% a year, and its worst drop was −22.4%.

Written by [the Tactfolio research team](https://tactfolio.com/about/editorial-policy). Fund facts checked October 17, 2026. Prices through October 16, 2026.

## Key points

- Expense ratio: 0.08% a year (about $8 on $10,000).
- Started trading on October 25, 2017.
- Last close: $35.52 on October 16, 2026.
- Return over the last year: 1.6%.
- Worst drop since 2017: −22.4%.
- No Tactfolio classic strategies hold it.

## How has USHY done since 2017?

From October 2017 to October 2026, USHY returned about 4.4% a year. The S&P 500 returned about 14.7% a year over the same dates. Say you put in $10,000 at the start. It would have been worth about $14,716 at the end, with every dividend reinvested.

| Period | USHY | S&P 500 (SPY) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 month | −1.5% | 1.5% |
| 3 months | −2.1% | 1.9% |
| 6 months | −1.1% | 9.3% |
| Year to date | 0.0% | 12.8% |
| 1 year | 1.6% | 16.8% |
| 3 years, per year | 8.4% | 22.0% |
| 5 years, per year | 3.6% | 12.8% |
| Since 2017, per year | 4.4% | 14.7% |

Periods longer than a year show the return per year (CAGR). Prices through October 16, 2026. Figures use daily closing prices adjusted for splits, with dividends reinvested. They do not include taxes or the cost of buying and selling. Past results do not tell you what will happen next.

## USHY returns by month and year

USHY rose in 71 of its 109 months (65%). Its best month was July 2022, at 6.6%. Its worst was March 2020, at −11.8%.

| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Full year |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 (part) | 0.7% | −0.1% | −0.9% | 1.7% | 0.4% | 0.2% | −0.1% | 1.0% | −2.7% | 0.1% |  |  | 0.0% |
| 2025 | 1.4% | 1.0% | −1.1% | 0.0% | 1.7% | 1.9% | 0.2% | 1.2% | 1.0% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 8.8% |
| 2024 | 0.4% | 0.2% | 1.2% | −1.2% | 1.7% | 0.4% | 2.3% | 1.6% | 1.6% | −0.9% | 1.7% | −0.8% | 8.5% |
| 2023 | 3.6% | −1.7% | 2.3% | 0.3% | −1.1% | 1.8% | 1.2% | 0.3% | −1.5% | −0.9% | 4.7% | 3.3% | 12.7% |
| 2022 | −2.9% | −0.7% | −1.3% | −4.2% | 1.7% | −7.3% | 6.6% | −3.9% | −3.9% | 3.2% | 3.4% | −1.6% | −11.2% |
| 2021 | −0.2% | 0.1% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 0.1% | 1.6% | 0.2% | 0.6% | −0.2% | −0.1% | −1.3% | 2.3% | 5.0% |
| 2020 | −0.1% | −1.1% | −11.8% | 4.9% | 3.6% | 0.6% | 5.2% | 0.4% | −0.9% | 0.6% | 3.5% | 2.2% | 6.2% |
| 2019 | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1.1% | 1.3% | −1.6% | 2.9% | 0.2% | 0.7% | 0.5% | −0.1% | 0.2% | 2.3% | 14.2% |
| 2018 | 0.5% | −0.8% | −0.5% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 1.2% | 0.7% | 0.4% | −1.7% | −0.9% | −1.8% | −2.4% |
| 2017 (part) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 0.1% | −0.4% | 0.5% | 0.2% |

Each month runs from the last close of the month before. The first month counts from the first close.

## How risky is USHY compared with the S&P 500?

Measured from October 2021 to October 2026, on the days both traded.

- **Beta 0.32.** When the S&P 500 moved 1% in a day, USHY tended to move about 0.32%.
- **Correlation 0.75.** USHY moved with the S&P 500 some of the time.
- **Up and down months.** In months the S&P 500 rose, USHY rose 38% as much on average. In months it fell, USHY fell 46% as much.

| Measure | USHY | S&P 500 (SPY) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Return per year | 3.6% | 12.8% |
| Volatility | 7.4% | 17.1% |
| Worst drop | −15.6% | −24.5% |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.52 | 0.79 |
| Sortino ratio | 0.75 | 1.15 |
| Calmar ratio | 0.23 | 0.52 |

Volatility is how much the price swings in a year. The Sharpe ratio is return per unit of volatility, the Sortino ratio counts only the falls, and the Calmar ratio is the return per year over the worst drop. Higher ratios mean more return for the risk taken.

## Is USHY above its 200-day average?

USHY closed 1.1% below its 200-day average on October 16, 2026. A rule that holds USHY only above that average would be out of it today.

- Its 50-day average is 0.5% above its 200-day average.
- It closed 2.7% below its highest close of the last 52 weeks.

A moving average is the average close over the last so many days. Trend rules such as [the 10-month moving average strategy](https://tactfolio.com/strategies/faber-10-month-moving-average.md) hold a fund only while it is above one. You can [build that rule for USHY](https://tactfolio.com/builder) and backtest it in a minute.

## What was USHY's worst drop?

A drawdown is how far a fund falls from its last high point. USHY's worst fall was −22.4%, from February 14, 2020 to March 23, 2020. It got back to that high on October 12, 2020. On October 16, 2026 it was 2.7% below its highest close.

| Drop | Started | Bottom | Back to the high | Fall took | Recovery took |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −22.4% | Feb 14, 2020 | Mar 23, 2020 | Oct 12, 2020 | 38 days | 7 months |
| −15.6% | Dec 28, 2021 | Sep 27, 2022 | Dec 21, 2023 | 9 months | 15 months |
| −6.1% | Oct 1, 2018 | Dec 24, 2018 | Jan 31, 2019 | 3 months | 38 days |
| −4.7% | Feb 28, 2025 | Apr 8, 2025 | May 12, 2025 | 39 days | 34 days |

Big drops are normal for some funds. They matter because selling during a drop locks in the loss.

## What does USHY hold?

This fund owns about 1,900 bonds from companies with lower credit ratings. These are often called junk bonds. They pay more interest, but some companies may fail to pay back what they owe.

It tracks the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index. It had 1,902 holdings as of October 15, 2026, according to iShares (BlackRock).

| Fact | USHY |
| --- | --- |
| Full name | iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF |
| Issuer | iShares (BlackRock) |
| Expense ratio | 0.08% a year |
| Started trading | October 25, 2017 |
| Tracks | ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index |
| Type | US bonds, ETF |
| Holdings | 1,902 holdings as of October 15, 2026 |
| Facts checked | October 17, 2026 on the [iShares (BlackRock) fund page](https://www.ishares.com/us/products/291299/ishares-broad-usd-high-yield-corporate-bond-etf) |

## What is the USHY expense ratio?

USHY charges 0.08% a year. An expense ratio is the yearly fee a fund takes to run itself. On $10,000, a 0.08% fee comes to about $8 a year. Of the 162 ETFs on Tactfolio, 60% charge more.

You never get a bill for it. The fund takes the fee out of its own value a little each day.

## Which Tactfolio strategies hold USHY?

No classic strategy holds USHY yet. You can add it to your own rules in the [builder](https://tactfolio.com/builder) and see how they would have done.

## How does USHY compare with similar ETFs?

Funds that can stand in for USHY:

- [JNK](https://tactfolio.com/etf/JNK.md): State Street SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF, 0.4% a year
- [HYG](https://tactfolio.com/etf/HYG.md): iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF, 0.49% a year
- [VCIT](https://tactfolio.com/etf/VCIT.md): Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF, 0.03% a year
- [LQD](https://tactfolio.com/etf/LQD.md): iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF, 0.14% a year

See [all 4 USHY alternatives](https://tactfolio.com/alternatives/USHY.md), compared on the same dates as USHY.

## Test USHY in your own rules

Tactfolio is a platform where you build rules-based investing strategies, backtest them on decades of real prices, share them, and run them automatically in your own Alpaca account. Open the [builder](https://tactfolio.com/builder), add USHY, and see how a rule such as "hold it only above its 200-day average" would have done. Strategies run on daily prices and hold US stocks and ETFs only.

## The details

Prices come from Tactfolio's stored daily prices for USHY and SPY. Each close is adjusted for splits, and dividends are reinvested on the day the fund pays them out. CAGR is the steady yearly return that turns the starting value into the ending value. Volatility is the yearly standard deviation of daily returns. Beta and correlation compare daily returns with the S&P 500 over the same dates.

Fund facts come from iShares (BlackRock). We checked them on October 17, 2026. Read [what a backtest simulates](https://tactfolio.com/docs/backtests.md) and [how to read drawdown and CAGR](https://tactfolio.com/docs/concepts/reading-a-backtest.md) for more on these measures.

## Research and test it

- [Portfolio rebalancing](https://tactfolio.com/learn/portfolio-rebalancing): What portfolio rebalancing is, why a 60/40 mix drifts, calendar vs threshold methods, and how taxes and costs fit in.
- [Risk parity](https://tactfolio.com/learn/risk-parity): Risk parity balances risk instead of dollars. See a simple stock and bond example, why funds use leverage, and what went wrong in 2022.
- [ETF screener](https://tactfolio.com/screener.md): A free ETF screener for 162 US-listed funds. Filter by type, issuer and fee, sort by returns or worst drop, and compare funds side by side.
- [ETF expense ratio](https://tactfolio.com/learn/etf-expense-ratio): What an ETF expense ratio is, how the fund charges it, and how 0.03% vs 1% adds up over 10 and 30 years, with real fund examples.
- [Backtest a portfolio](https://tactfolio.com/trading-tools/backtest-portfolio): Backtest a portfolio of US stocks and ETFs. Enter tickers and shares, pick when to rebalance, and get the results with a link to share.
- [Backtesting](https://tactfolio.com/backtesting): Free backtesting software for stocks, ETFs, and crypto perps.

## Common questions

### What is the expense ratio of USHY?

USHY charges 0.08% a year, according to iShares (BlackRock) as of October 17, 2026. That is about $8 a year for every $10,000 you hold.

### When did USHY start trading?

USHY started trading on October 25, 2017. It is run by iShares (BlackRock).

### What does USHY track?

USHY tracks the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index. This fund owns about 1,900 bonds from companies with lower credit ratings.

### How much has USHY returned per year?

From October 2017 to October 2026, USHY returned about 4.4% a year with dividends reinvested. Its worst drop was −22.4%. Past returns do not tell you what it will do next.

### Is USHY above its 200-day moving average?

On October 16, 2026, USHY closed 1.1% below its 200-day moving average. This page updates after each US market close.

### Which strategies use USHY?

None of Tactfolio's classic strategies hold USHY yet. You can test it in your own rules in the builder.

## Sources

- [iShares (BlackRock): iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF fund page](https://www.ishares.com/us/products/291299/ishares-broad-usd-high-yield-corporate-bond-etf)

> Not financial advice. Tactfolio is a research and automation tool. It is not a broker or a financial adviser. This page is for education only. Backtests are hypothetical. They show how rules would have done on past prices, not how they will do. All investing involves risk, including losing the money you put in.