v3.26.1
Investment Risks - iShares Mortgage-Backed Securities Active ETF
Apr. 30, 2026
Debt Securities Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Debt Securities Risk. Debt securities, such as bonds, involve risks, such as credit risk, interest rate risk, extension risk, and prepayment risk, each of which are described in further detail below:
Credit Risk. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer of a debt security (i.e., the borrower) will not be able to make payments of interest and principal when due. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on both the financial condition of the issuer and the terms of the obligation.
Interest Rate Risk. The market value of bonds and other fixed-income securities changes in response to interest rate changes and other factors. Interest rate risk is the risk that prices of bonds and other fixed-income securities will increase as interest rates fall and decrease as interest rates rise.
The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates during a period of low interest rates. For example, if interest rates increase by 1%, assuming a current portfolio duration of ten years, and all other factors being equal, the value of the Fund’s investments would be expected to decrease by 10%. (Duration is a measure of the price sensitivity of a debt security or portfolio of debt securities to relative changes in interest rates.) The magnitude of these fluctuations in the market price of bonds and other fixed-income securities is generally greater for those securities with longer maturities. Fluctuations in the market price of the Fund’s investments will not affect interest income derived from instruments already owned by the Fund, but will be reflected in the Fund’s net asset value. The Fund may lose money if short-term or long-term interest rates rise sharply in a manner not anticipated by Fund management.
To the extent the Fund invests in debt securities that may be prepaid at the option of the obligor (such as mortgage-backed securities), the sensitivity of such securities to changes in interest rates may increase (to the detriment of the Fund) when interest rates rise. Moreover, because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities.
These basic principles of bond prices also apply to U.S. Government securities. A security backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. Government is guaranteed only as to its stated interest rate and face value at maturity, not its current market price. Just like other fixed-income securities, government-guaranteed securities will fluctuate in value when interest rates change.
A general rise in interest rates has the potential to cause investors to move out of fixed-income securities on a large scale, which may increase redemptions from funds that hold large amounts of fixed-income securities. Heavy redemptions could cause the Fund to sell assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value and could hurt the Fund’s performance.
Extension Risk. When interest rates rise, certain obligations will be paid off by the obligor more slowly than anticipated, causing the value of these obligations to fall.
Prepayment Risk. When interest rates fall, certain obligations will be paid off by the obligor more quickly than originally anticipated, and the Fund may have to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields.
U S Government Issuer Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
U.S. Government Issuer Risk. Treasury obligations may differ in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Obligations of U.S. Government agencies and authorities are supported by varying degrees of credit but generally are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government. No assurance can be given that the U.S. Government will provide financial support to its agencies and authorities if it is not obligated by law to do so.
Assets Under Management AUM Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of the Fund’s prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund’s adviser, an affiliate of the Fund’s adviser, or another fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. There are a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants for the Fund, including on an agency basis on behalf of other market participants. No Authorized Participant is obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or do not place creation or redemption orders for the Fund and no other Authorized Participant places orders, Fund shares are more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
Cash Transactions Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Cash Transactions Risk. The Fund may effect some or all of its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in‑kind securities. As a result, the Fund may have to sell portfolio securities at inopportune times in order to obtain the cash needed to meet redemption orders. This may cause the Fund to sell a security and recognize a capital gain or loss that might not have been incurred if it had made a redemption in‑kind. The use of cash creations and redemptions may also cause the Fund’s shares to trade in the market at wider bid‑ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV.
Derivatives Risks [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may increase its costs, reduce the Fund’s returns and/or increase volatility. Derivatives involve significant risks, including:
Leverage Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives can magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Relatively small market movements may result in large changes in the value of a derivatives position and can result in losses that greatly exceed the amount originally invested.
Market Risk. Some derivatives are more sensitive to interest rate changes and market price fluctuations than other securities. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, which losses are potentially unlimited. Finally, BFA may not be able to predict correctly the direction of securities prices, interest rates and other economic factors, which could cause the Fund’s derivatives positions to lose value.
Counterparty Risk. Derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will be unable or unwilling to fulfill its contractual obligation, and the related risks of having concentrated exposure to such a counterparty.
Illiquidity Risk. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately.
Operational Risk. The use of derivatives includes the risk of potential operational issues, including documentation issues, settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error.
Legal Risk. The risk of insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of counterparty, or legality or enforceability of a contract.
Volatility and Correlation Risk. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. A risk of the Fund’s use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate with the overall securities markets.
Valuation Risk. Valuation for derivatives may not be readily available in the market. Valuation may be more difficult in times of market turmoil since
many investors and market makers may be reluctant to purchase complex instruments or quote prices for them.
Hedging Risk. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund’s hedging transactions will be effective. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences.
Tax Risk. Certain aspects of the tax treatment of derivative instruments, including swap agreements and commodity-linked derivative instruments, are currently unclear and may be affected by changes in legislation, regulations or other legally binding authority. Such treatment may be less favorable than that given to a direct investment in an underlying asset and may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments.
Dollar Rolls Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Dollar Rolls Risk. Dollar rolls involve the risk that the market value of the securities that the Fund is committed to buy may decline below the price of the securities the Fund has sold. These transactions may involve leverage.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of its portfolio securities. High portfolio turnover (more than 100%) may result in increased transaction costs to the Fund, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other transaction costs on the sale of the securities and on reinvestment in other securities. The sale of Fund portfolio securities may result in the realization and/or distribution to shareholders of higher capital gains or losses as compared to a fund with less active trading policies, such as index ETFs. These effects of higher than normal portfolio turnover may adversely affect Fund performance. In addition, investment in mortgage dollar rolls and participation in to-be-announced (“TBA”) transactions may significantly increase the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate. A TBA transaction is a method of trading mortgage-backed securities where the buyer and seller agree upon general trade parameters such as agency, settlement date, par amount, and price at the time the contract is entered into but the mortgage-backed securities are delivered in the future, generally 30 days later.
Large Shareholder and Large Scale Redemption Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund’s adviser or
an affiliate of the Fund’s adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment.
Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non‑redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. In some circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these large redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund’s NAV, increase the Fund’s brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.
Illiquid Investments Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund’s liquidity risk management program. The Fund’s illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because it may be difficult to sell the illiquid investments at an advantageous time or price. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to dispose of illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming or selling their shares or the Fund’s net assets otherwise shrink, the Fund will need to dispose of liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund’s holdings. An
investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in fixed-income securities or the lack of an active trading market. To the extent that the Fund’s principal investment strategies involve derivatives or securities with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have greater exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets, and if the Fund is forced to sell these investments to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where investor redemptions or sales of Fund shares may be higher than normal. In addition, when there is illiquidity in the market for certain securities, the Fund, due to limitations on illiquid investments, may be subject to purchase and sale restrictions. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund’s shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund’s NAV.
Leverage Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Leverage Risk. Some transactions may give rise to a form of economic leverage. These transactions may include, among others, derivatives, and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The use of leverage may cause the Fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations or to meet the applicable requirements of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), and the rules thereunder. Increases and decreases in the value of the Fund’s portfolio will be magnified when the Fund uses leverage.
Market Risk and Selection Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Market Risk and Selection Risk. Market risk is the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the possibility that the markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. An investor could lose money over short periods due to fluctuation in the Fund’s net asset value in response to short-term market movements and over longer periods during market downturns. Securities or other investments held by the Fund may underperform the markets, the relevant indices or benchmarks, or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies, or may otherwise fail to perform as intended. The value of a security or other asset may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or
other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, exchange, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. The success of a Fund’s activities could be affected by interest rates, availability of credit, inflation rates, economic uncertainty, changes in laws, tariffs and trade barriers, supply chain disruptions, economic sanctions, currency exchange controls, and local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, natural and environmental disasters, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events.
Recent policy initiatives undertaken by the U.S. government have the potential to impact international relations, trade agreements and the overall regulatory environment in ways that could create uncertainty and instability in domestic and global markets, and could adversely affect the investment performance of the Fund. In particular, actions taken by the U.S. government in respect of international trade relations could lead to trade wars, increased costs for imported goods, disruptions in supply chains, reduced foreign investment, and instability in regions where the Fund invests.
Market Trading Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares (including through a trading halt), losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility, and disruptions in the process of creating and redeeming Fund shares. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading in the secondary market at a premium or discount to NAV or to the intraday value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. If you buy Fund shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to NAV or sell Fund shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to NAV, you may pay significantly more or receive significantly less than the underlying value of the Fund shares.
Operational and Technology Risks [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Operational and Technology Risks. The Fund is directly and indirectly susceptible to operational and technology risks, including those related to human errors, processing errors, communication errors, systems failures, cybersecurity incidents, and the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (“AI”), which may result in losses for the Fund and its shareholders or may impair the Fund’s operations. While the Fund’s service providers are required to have appropriate operational, information security and cybersecurity risk management policies and procedures, their methods of risk management may differ from those of the Fund. Operational and technology risks for the issuers in which the Fund
invests could also result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund’s investments in such issuers to lose value.
Repurchase Agreements and Purchase and Sale Contracts Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Repurchase Agreements and Purchase and Sale Contracts Risk. If the other party to a repurchase agreement or purchase and sale contract defaults on its obligation under the agreement, the Fund may suffer delays and incur costs or lose money in exercising its rights under the agreement. If the seller fails to repurchase the security in either situation and the market value of the security declines, the Fund may lose money.
Reverse Repurchase Agreements Risk [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Reverse Repurchase Agreements Risk. Reverse repurchase agreements involve the sale of securities held by the Fund with an agreement to repurchase the securities at an agreed-upon price, date and interest payment. Reverse repurchase agreements involve the risk that the other party may fail to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund could lose money if it is unable to recover the securities and the value of the collateral held by the Fund, including the value of the investments made with cash collateral, is less than the value of the securities. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund. In addition, reverse repurchase agreements involve the risk that the interest income earned in the investment of the proceeds will be less than the interest expense.
Risk of Investing in the United States [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Risk of Investing in the United States. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.
Mortgage and Asset Backed Securities Risks [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block]
Mortgage- and Asset-Backed Securities Risks. Mortgage- and asset-backed securities represent interests in “pools” of mortgages or other assets, including consumer loans or receivables held in trust. Mortgage- and asset-backed securities are subject to credit, interest rate, prepayment and extension risks. These securities also are subject to risk of default on the underlying mortgage or asset, particularly during periods of economic downturn. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain mortgage-backed securities.
Risk Lose Money [Member]  
Prospectus [Line Items]  
Risk [Text Block] As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund’s performance could trail that of other investments.