EWY: iShares MSCI South Korea ETF Educational Report

What this ETF is trying to do

The EWY ticker represents the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF. Based on its name, this ETF is designed to provide exposure to companies located in South Korea.

What the numbers show

As of October 9, 2026, the current price of one share of EWY is $177.24. Looking back, the estimated price from roughly one year ago was about $83.43.

The ETF has seen significant growth in its share price recently:

• Year-to-Date (YTD): The price return is approximately 82.31%.

• One-Year: The price return is approximately 112.44%.

• Three-Year: The price return is approximately 203.13%.

To make this easier to visualize, if you had invested $10,000 into the share price alone one year ago, that investment would have grown to approximately $21,244 based on the price return.

It is important to note the difference between price return and total return. Price return only tracks how much the share price moves. Total return includes both the price changes and any cash distributions (like dividends) paid out to investors. For EWY, the one-year total return was approximately 117.28%, which is higher than the 112.44% price return.

Income and distribution explanation

Some investors look for ETFs that pay them regular cash. This is called a "distribution." The distribution yield for EWY is approximately 1.15%.

However, these payments are described as "irregular" or "less frequent." In the last 12 months, there was only one distribution payout. The trailing distributions were approximately $2.04 per share. Because the payouts do not happen on a regular schedule, this ETF may not be a predictable source of steady income.

NAV erosion explanation

"NAV erosion" refers to a decline in the actual value of the fund's underlying assets. The supplied data is sufficient to evaluate price erosion, but it does not include enough historical NAV-per-share data to confirm or rule out NAV erosion.

Regarding price erosion (the decline in the market price of the shares), the ETF has an erosion-risk score of 100. This is labeled as "No price erosion detected," and the erosion severity is considered "good." There is no severe erosion-risk flag for this ETF.

Pros

• Strong Price Growth: The ETF has shown very high price returns over the last one, three, and five years.

• Low Erosion Risk: Based on the supplied score, there are no signs of significant price deterioration.

Cons

• Irregular Income: Distributions are not frequent, which might be difficult for investors who need regular cash payments.

Beginner takeaway

EWY has experienced very large increases in its share price over the last few years. While it does pay distributions, they do not happen often. When looking at this ETF, it is important to distinguish between the growth of the share price and the total return that includes those infrequent cash payments.