Which is cheaper, SPY or ZDEK?

SPY charges 0.09% a year and ZDEK charges 0.79%, so SPY is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Are SPY and ZDEK the same kind of fund?

No. SPY is an index ETF and ZDEK is a buffer ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

Data as of Sep 12, 2026. Both funds on the fields they both publish, from the same sources.

ETFIQetfiq.com · independent ETF data

SPY vs ZDEK: how they differ

SPY and ZDEK are measured over different days, and SPY charges 0.09% against 0.79%.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF - 1 Yr December.

SPY and ZDEK on the fields both publish, as of Sep 12, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	ZDEK Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF - 1 Yr December
Where it sits	Core index fund	Buffer ETF
Issuer	State Street	Innovator
What it is	S&P 500, book from IVV	Defined outcome, 100% on SPY
Total return, 1 year	+17.5%	not published
S&P 500 over the same days	+17.5%	not published
Gap to the S&P 500	0.0 pts	not available
Expense ratio	0.09%	0.79%
Holdings	504	not filed

SPY in plain words

SPY is an index equity fund tracking the S&P 500. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +17.5% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. 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%.

ZDEK in plain words

SPY had already risen past this fund's cap of +6.8% for the period on Sep 12, 2026, so in index terms there is no more upside to collect. The fund's own price can still drift up to about 1.6% as the period runs out. The fund's price can fall 4.9% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's figure. In index terms, SPY can fall 10.6% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 100.0% of the 100.0% buffer still sits below today's SPY level. 80 days remained on Sep 12, 2026. On Nov 30, 2026 the period ends and a new cap is set.

Questions people ask

Which is cheaper, SPY or ZDEK?: SPY charges 0.09% a year and ZDEK charges 0.79%, so SPY is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Are SPY and ZDEK the same kind of fund?: No. SPY is an index ETF and ZDEK is a buffer ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

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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.

SPY against ZDEK, ETFIQ, data as of Sep 12, 2026. Every figure is arithmetic on a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page. ETFIQ, SPY against ZDEK, data as of Sep 12, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/SPY-ZDEK Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources