Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
BUYW vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, BUYW returned +8.7% to SPY's +13.6%, and SPY charges 0.09% to BUYW's 0.99%.
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Net assets: $1.3bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Main BuyWrite ETF, and $814.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.90 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.9 points.
| Measure | BUYW | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +8.7% | +13.6% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 2.4% | rose 12.4% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 6.0% | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Benchmark: S&P 500, measured through SPY | S&P 500 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.99% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, BUYW as of Jul 31, 2026 and SPY as of Oct 27, 2026 | $1.3bn | $814.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 38.1% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Sep 23, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 213 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: BUYW against SPY, Sep 23, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026; SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned more: +117.6% to +53.1%. BUYW swung less: 6.0% to 14.5%. BUYW fell less at its worst: −7.7% to −16.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BUYW | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +53.1% | +117.6% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +11.0% | +20.9% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +21.0% | +106.5% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 6.0% | 14.5% | BUYW | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 4.1% | 9.2% | BUYW | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −7.7% | −16.9% | BUYW | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 24.8% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 27.4% | 100.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.33 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.65 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 1.00 | 1.07 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.46 | 1.67 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.180 | 0.133 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 1.43 | 1.24 | BUYW | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | SPY | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.8% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.48 | −0.51 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −2.7% to +4.3% | −0.3% to +0.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.92 | −0.15 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 10.3% | 0.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 213 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, BUYW and SPY hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
BUYW and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Cash paid: distributions over the window, as a share of the starting price.
BUYW and SPY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. BUYW is measured against S&P 500 through SPY and SPY follows S&P 500 Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 BUYW returned +8.7% and SPY +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 4.9 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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BUYW
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, BUYW paid 6.1% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 2.4%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +8.7%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +13.6% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 4.9 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 6.0%, paid monthly.
SPY
SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.6% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.
Questions people ask
- Are BUYW and SPY in the same category?
- BUYW is an option-income ETF and SPY is a stock ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, BUYW or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BUYW returned +8.7% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, BUYW or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.90 percentage points a year. That is about $90 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, BUYW against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/buyw-vs-spy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). BUYW against SPY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/buyw-vs-spy
[BUYW against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/buyw-vs-spy)
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