Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
CTA vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, CTA returned +18.4% to SPY's +13.6%, and SPY charges 0.09% to CTA's 0.75%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $1.4bn for Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF and $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.66 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.8 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $1.4bn.
| Measure | CTA | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +18.4% | +13.6% |
| Total return, 52 weeks | +17.4% | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | not published | S&P 500 Index |
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.6% | |
| Against cash | 13.7 points ahead | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.75% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $1.4bn | $814.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 38.1% | |
| Risk | ||
| Correlation with the S&P 500’s weekly returns | −0.19 | |
| Beta to the S&P 500 | −0.36: about 0.36% for each 1% | |
| Its average week when the S&P 500 fell | rose 0.40% | |
| Down-week capture | −36.1% | |
| Weeks the S&P 500 fell | 26 of 52, by 1.10% on average | |
Side by side
CTA and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
CTA
CTA is a managed futures fund. ETFIQ measures what every alternatives fund is sold on: whether it moves differently from the stock market. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of −0.19 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of −0.36, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.36% the other way. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.10% on average. In the same weeks CTA rose 0.40% on average, a down-week capture of −36.1%. Over the same 52 weeks CTA returned +17.4% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 13.7 percentage points ahead of cash.
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 CTA and SPY in the same category?
- CTA is an alternatives 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, CTA or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, CTA returned +18.4% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, CTA or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.66 percentage points a year. That is about $66 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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ETFIQ, CTA against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-spy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). CTA against SPY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-spy
[CTA against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-spy)
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