BNY Mellon High Yield ETF

BNY Mellon High Yield ETF (BKHY) holds about 1,600 US dollar high yield ("junk") corporate bonds, meaning bonds from companies with below-investment-grade credit ratings. It picks them from the Bloomberg US Corporate High Yield Total Return Index but is actively managed rather than an index copy. Its 0.22% expense ratio is below the 0.45% average for similar funds. It paid a 7.57% trailing yield, monthly, as of October 27, 2026.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, BKHY returned +1.5%, 5th of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +3.7%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-11.0%); its best was 2023 (+12.4%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 15.9% (Dec 27, 2021 to Sep 27, 2022), recovered by Dec 27, 2023.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 1,602 securities; the ten largest made up 3.62% of assets, and 3.17% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

The bonds mature in 5.7 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 6.87%.

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $14.2M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +0.54%, +0.26%, -0.22%.

BKHY is not an index fund, but it stays close to one. It normally invests almost all its assets in bonds that belong to the Bloomberg US Corporate High Yield Total Return Index when it buys them. It can also hold ETFs and derivatives that track those bonds. That index covers fixed-rate, taxable US dollar corporate bonds rated Ba1/BB+ or lower. Each bond needs at least $150 million outstanding and at least one year left before it matures. The index updates its membership monthly.

The sub-adviser, Insight North America LLC, is a BNY Mellon affiliate. It uses its own credit model to keep the fund's rating mix, duration (how sensitive prices are to interest rates) and sector weights close to the index. It holds more of the bonds the model rates as undervalued and less of those it rates as overvalued. It also looks for "fallen angels": bonds that were cut from investment grade to junk. Portfolio turnover was 76.63%.

The fund may use futures, swaps, structured notes and credit default swap indexes for hedging and to manage cash flows. As of July 31, 2026, it held 1,602 bonds with an average maturity of 5.7 years. Its 10 largest positions made up only 3.62% of assets. Many holdings are 144A bonds, which are sold privately and can be harder to trade.

• BKHY charges 0.22% a year, versus an average of 0.45% for the similar funds below (3rd of 8, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $23 in the first year and $280 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

BKHY pays monthly and had a 7.57% trailing yield as of October 27, 2026, but its junk-bond credit risk makes it an income holding, not a safe one.

BKHY launched in April 2020, after the COVID crash had bottomed, so it has no record from 2008 or that crash. In the 2022 bear market it fell about 15.6% and did not recover until December 2023. Its deepest drop was 15.9%, from December 2021 to September 2022, and it took about 15 months to get back. The prospectus shows a 2022 loss of 11.2%. Anyone who had to sell shares in 2022 would have sold at a loss.

The fund paid $3.48 per share over the 12 months to October 27, 2026, in monthly payments. It costs $23 in the first year on a $10,000 investment, using the SEC's standard example. Past results don't predict the future, and any plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by bond funds with the closest average maturity and issuer mix (N-PORT).