Data as of Sep 4, 2026. Both funds on the fields they both publish, from the same sources.
SPY vs ULTY
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and YieldMax(R) Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF.
What they hold in common
By the books each fund has filed, SPY and ULTY hold 16% of their money in the same securities at the same weight.
| Holding | SPY | ULTY |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA Corp. | 7.52% | 4.80% |
| Amazon.com, Inc. | 3.62% | 5.16% |
| Alphabet, Inc. | 3.25% | 5.66% |
| Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. | 1.47% | 4.15% |
| Lam Research Corp. | 0.84% | 4.99% |
| Palantir Technologies, Inc. | 0.42% | 4.40% |
| Analog Devices, Inc. | 0.30% | 5.47% |
| Quanta Services, Inc. | 0.17% | 4.95% |
| Fortinet, Inc. | 0.15% | 3.56% |
| Robinhood Markets, Inc. | 0.12% | 3.84% |
| Coherent Corp. | 0.12% | 4.50% |
| Ciena Corp. | 0.11% | 4.95% |
| Only in SPY | Only in ULTY |
|---|---|
| Apple, Inc. 6.59% | IREN Ltd 4.80% |
| Microsoft Corp. 4.30% | Strategy Inc 4.65% |
| Broadcom, Inc. 2.77% | Astera Labs Inc 4.56% |
| Alphabet, Inc. 2.59% | VanEck Gold Miners ETF/USA 4.33% |
| Micron Technology, Inc. 2.02% | Amplify Junior Silver Miners E 4.21% |
| Meta Platforms, Inc. 1.92% | Shopify Inc 3.69% |
| Tesla, Inc. 1.84% | Southern Copper Corp 3.20% |
| Eli Lilly & Co. 1.47% | Reddit Inc 3.19% |
Weight overlap is an ETFIQ calculation: for every security both funds hold, the smaller of the two weights, summed. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings as filed for Apr 30, 2026 and Jun 30, 2026.
| SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | ULTY YieldMax(R) Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | Core fund | Income desk |
| Issuer | State Street | YieldMax |
| What it is | S&P 500, book from IVV | synthetic covered call, vs SPY |
| Total return, 1 year | +20.0% | −2.9% |
| S&P 500 over the same days | +20.0% | +20.0% |
| Gap to the S&P 500 | +0.0 pts | −22.8 pts |
| Cash paid, 1 year | not an income fund | 48.3% |
| Expense ratio | not published | 1.30% |
| Holdings | 504 | n/a |
SPY in plain words
SPY is a index equity fund tracking S&P 500, book from IVV. Over the year to Sep 4, 2026 it returned +20.0% with distributions reinvested, against +20.0% for the S&P 500 and +25.6% for the Nasdaq-100. By its holdings filed for Jun 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 36.4%.
ULTY in plain words
Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, ULTY paid 48.3% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 52.1%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned −2.9%. S&P 500 (SPY), used as a default proxy returned +20.0% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 22.8 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 60.4%, paid weekly. YieldMax estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Sep 3, 2026 was a return of capital (19a-1 notice, estimated, a tax characterisation rather than a measure of erosion).
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, SPY or ULTY?
- In the year to Sep 4, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +20.0% and ULTY returned −2.9%, so SPY returned more. One year is one year; the longer windows are in the table.
- Are SPY and ULTY the same kind of fund?
- No. SPY is an index ETF and ULTY is an option-income ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.
Other comparisons
Where to next
Where these figures came from
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.
Cite this page. ETFIQ, SPY against ULTY, data as of Sep 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/SPY-ULTY.html Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.
A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources