Which is cheaper, DLFE or SPY?

DLFE charges 0.85% a year and SPY charges 0.09%, so SPY is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Are DLFE and SPY the same kind of fund?

No. DLFE is a buffer ETF and SPY is an index 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 19, 2026.

ETFIQetfiq.com · independent ETF data

DLFE vs SPY: how they differ

DLFE and SPY are measured over different days, and SPY charges 0.09% to DLFE's 0.85%.

FT Vest U.S. Equity Dual Directional Buffer ETF - February and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.

DLFE and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Sep 19, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	DLFE FT Vest U.S. Equity Dual Directional Buffer ETF - February	SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
Where it sits	Buffer ETF	Core fund
Issuer	First Trust	State Street
What it is	Defined outcome, 10% on SPY	Tracks the S&P 500
Total return, 1 year	not published	+16.6%
S&P 500 over the same days	not published	+16.6%
Gap to the S&P 500	not available	0.0 pts
Expense ratio	0.85%	0.09%
Holdings	not filed	505
Net assets	$68m	$785.0bn

DLFE in plain words

From its price on Sep 19, 2026, the fund can gain about 4.5% more before it reaches its cap. The fund's price can fall 7.2% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's figure. In index terms, SPY can fall 9.5% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 10.0% of the 10.0% buffer still sits below today's SPY level. 154 days remained on Sep 19, 2026. On Feb 19, 2027 the period ends and a new cap is set.

SPY in plain words

SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Sep 18, 2026 it returned +16.6% with distributions reinvested, against +16.6% for the S&P 500 and +21.8% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Sep 18, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 505 positions, with the top ten at 38.5%.

Questions people ask

Which is cheaper, DLFE or SPY?: DLFE charges 0.85% a year and SPY charges 0.09%, so SPY is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Are DLFE and SPY the same kind of fund?: No. DLFE is a buffer ETF and SPY is an index ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

Other comparisons

Where to next

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.

DLFE against SPY, ETFIQ, data as of Sep 19, 2026. Every figure is calculated from a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page. ETFIQ, DLFE against SPY, data as of Sep 19, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dlfe-vs-spy Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources