Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
BUYW vs VOO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, BUYW returned +8.7% to VOO's +13.7%, and VOO charges 0.03% to BUYW's 0.99%.
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Net assets: $1.3bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Main BuyWrite ETF, and $1.0tn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard S&P 500 ETF.
Pair scorecard
VOO costs 0.96 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.0 points.
| Measure | BUYW | VOO |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +8.7% | +13.7% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 2.4% | rose 12.4% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 6.0% | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Benchmark: S&P 500, measured through SPY | S&P 500 Index |
| Against its benchmark, same days | behind by 4.9 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.99% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, BUYW as of Jul 31, 2026 and VOO as of Sep 30, 2026 | $1.3bn | $1.0tn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 39.1% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 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; VOO against IVV, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
VOO returned more: +118.2% to +53.1%. BUYW swung less: 6.0% to 14.4%. BUYW fell less at its worst: −7.7% to −16.7%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BUYW | VOO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +53.1% | +118.2% | VOO | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +11.0% | +21.0% | VOO | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +21.0% | +105.7% | VOO | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 6.0% | 14.4% | 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% | −16.7% | 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% | 99.9% | 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 | 1.08 | VOO (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.46 | 1.69 | VOO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.180 | 0.134 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 1.43 | 1.26 | BUYW | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | SPY | IVV | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.8% a year | 0.0% 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% | −0.1% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.92 | 0.02 | 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 VOO hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
BUYW and VOO 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 VOO do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. BUYW is measured against S&P 500 through SPY and VOO follows S&P 500 Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 BUYW returned +8.7% and VOO +13.7% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 5.0 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.
VOO
VOO tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.7% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 507 positions, with the top ten at 39.1%.
Questions people ask
- Are BUYW and VOO in the same category?
- BUYW is an option-income ETF and VOO 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 VOO?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BUYW returned +8.7% and VOO +13.7%.
- Which is cheaper, BUYW or VOO?
- VOO is cheaper, by 0.96 percentage points a year. That is about $96 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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.
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ETFIQ, BUYW against VOO, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/buyw-vs-voo
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). BUYW against VOO. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/buyw-vs-voo
[BUYW against VOO (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/buyw-vs-voo)
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