Are ACWI and IBB in the same category?

ACWI is a stock ETF and IBB is a thematic ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.

Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or IBB?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and IBB +37.5%.

Which is cheaper, ACWI or IBB?

ACWI is cheaper, by 0.12 percentage points a year. That is about $12 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do ACWI and IBB overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 40% of IBB by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

ACWI vs IBB: Differences, Returns & Fees

Share on X Download as PDF

Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, ACWI returned +13.4% to IBB's +37.5%, and ACWI charges 0.32% to IBB's 0.44%.

askIQ about this page

askIQ about ACWI and IBB

Net assets: $33.0bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI ACWI ETF, and $11.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Biotechnology ETF.

ACWI on its own →IBB on its own →

At a glance

+13.4%

ACWI total return, 1 year

+37.5%

IBB total return, 1 year

0.32%

ACWI expense ratio

0.44%

IBB expense ratio

Pair scorecard

ACWI costs 0.12 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 24.1 points; ACWI is 3.0 times larger.

ACWI vs IBB: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	IBB
Return
Measure	ACWI	IBB
Total return, 1 year	+13.4%	+37.5%
Benchmark
Measure	ACWI	IBB
What it tracks	MSCI ACWI	Biotech
Cost and size
Measure	ACWI	IBB
Expense ratio	0.32%	0.44%
Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026	$32.6bn	$10.7bn
Active share vs the S&P 500		99%
Holdings
Measure	ACWI	IBB
Holdings in common	1%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.9%	50%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method

Risk and return

Apr 4, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026 · 968 weekly returns

ACWI IBB

Return

Total return edge IBB +333.1% +726.3%

Annualized edge IBB +8.2% +12.0%

Price return edge IBB +204.7% +691.9%

Risk

Volatility edge ACWI 18.5% 23.2%

Max drawdown edge IBB −55.3% −37.5%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge IBB 0.44 0.54

Sortino edge IBB 0.62 0.78

Calmar edge IBB 0.15 0.32

Reading

IBB returned more: +726.3% to +333.1%. ACWI swung less: 18.5% to 23.2%. IBB fell less at its worst: −37.5% to −55.3%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: ACWI vs IBB: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	IBB	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+333.1%	+726.3%	IBB	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+8.2%	+12.0%	IBB	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+204.7%	+691.9%	IBB	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	18.5%	23.2%	ACWI	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	13.2%	16.1%	ACWI	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−55.3%	−37.5%	IBB	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.44	0.54	IBB	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.62	0.78	IBB	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.15	0.32	IBB	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 968 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, ACWI and IBB hold 1% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

1% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first ACWI IBB

AMGEN INC 0.23% 8.20%

GILEAD SCIENCES 0.19% 8.56%

VERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS 0.13% 7.53%

REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS 0.08% 5.64%

ARGENX 0.05% 3.42%

NATERA 0.05% 3.85%

BIOGEN 0.04% 2.58%

ILLUMINA INC 0.04% 2.93%

ALNYLAM PHARMACEUTICALS 0.03% 2.11%

GENMAB 0.03% 1.72%

REVOLUTION MEDICINES 0.03% 2.50%

BEONE MEDICINES AG 0.02% 2.15%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in ACWI

APPLE 4.97%

NVIDIA 4.89%

MICROSOFT 3.66%

AMAZON.COM INC 2.39%

ALPHABET CLASS A 1.83%

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 1.77%

BROADCOM INC 1.51%

ALPHABET CLASS C 1.44%

Only in IBB

MODERNA 5.29%

CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES INTERNA 1.18%

EXELIXIS INC 1.09%

ASCENDIS PHARMA 1.06%

MEDPACE HOLDINGS 1.06%

HALOZYME THERAPEUTICS 1.01%

BRIDGEBIO PHARMA 0.85%

BIO TECHNE 0.79%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

ACWI iShares MSCI ACWI ETF IBB iShares Biotechnology ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Thematic ETF

Issuer iShares iShares

What it is Tracks the MSCI ACWI Biotech

Total return, 1 year +13.4% +37.5%

Expense ratio 0.32% 0.44%

Already in the S&P 500 60.9% 40.2%

Holdings 2197 245

Net assets, ACWI as of Oct 28, 2026 and IBB as of Oct 27, 2026 $33.0bn $11.0bn

ACWI and IBB on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-ED2808707F

ACWI and IBB do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. ACWI follows MSCI ACWI and IBB follows Biotech.
Holdings in common. 1% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 ACWI returned +13.4% and IBB +37.5% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 24.1 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.

Your saved page · Privacy.

Alert

About each fund

ACWI

ACWI tracks the MSCI ACWI. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.32% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 61% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,197 positions, with the top ten at 24.9%.

IBB

By weight, 40% of IBB's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 99%. The top ten holdings are 50% of the fund across 245 positions, as published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 the fund returned +37.5% with distributions reinvested.

Questions people ask

Are ACWI and IBB in the same category?: ACWI is a stock ETF and IBB is a thematic ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or IBB?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and IBB +37.5%.
Which is cheaper, ACWI or IBB?: ACWI is cheaper, by 0.12 percentage points a year. That is about $12 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ACWI and IBB overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 40% of IBB by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ACWI vs XBI ACWI vs AIRR ACWI vs GDX ACWI vs LYTE IBB vs URTH IBB vs VT IBB vs VEU IBB vs SCHF

Where to next

ACWI on its own →IBB on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →ACWI dividend history →ACWI holdings →IBB dividend history →IBB holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

ACWI and IBB filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

ACWI prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for ACWI ↗

IBB prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for IBB ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, ACWI against IBB, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/acwi-vs-ibb

Open data →

Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.