Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
EWY vs IWO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, EWY returned +79.7% to IWO's +7.9%; 0% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $24.4bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI South Korea ETF, and $14.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF.
Pair scorecard
IWO costs 0.35 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 71.8 points; EWY is 1.6 times larger.
| Measure | EWY | IWO |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +79.7% | +7.9% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.3%, high on Jun 18, 2026 | 9.9%, high on Aug 14, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI Korea 25/50 Daily 25 Capped Index | Russell 2000 Growth Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.59% | 0.24% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026 | $22.5bn | $13.7bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 60.9% | 6.4% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Aug 4, 2000 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,368 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: EWY against EEM, Apr 25, 2003 to Oct 23, 2026; IWO against VTWG, Oct 1, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
EWY returned more: +1,030.9% to +433.5%. IWO swung less: 23.8% to 30.5%. IWO fell less at its worst: −58.2% to −70.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | EWY | IWO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +1,030.9% | +433.5% | EWY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +9.7% | +6.6% | EWY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +711.9% | +350.2% | EWY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 30.5% | 23.8% | IWO | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 20.9% | 16.9% | IWO | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −70.1% | −58.2% | IWO | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 115.0% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 103.2% | 100.1% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.08 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.74 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.40 | 0.31 | EWY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.58 | 0.44 | EWY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.124 | 0.111 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.14 | 0.11 | EWY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | EEM | VTWG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +2.5% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.83 | 0.06 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −3.4% to +8.5% | −0.7% to +0.7% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.22 | 0.01 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 14.8% | 1.5% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,368 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, EWY and IWO hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
EWY and IWO on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
EWY and IWO do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. EWY follows MSCI Korea 25/50 Daily 25 Capped Index and IWO follows Russell 2000 Growth Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 EWY returned +79.7% and IWO +7.9% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 71.8 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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EWY
EWY tracks the MSCI South Korea. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +79.7% with distributions reinvested, against +16.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.59% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 78 positions, with the top ten at 60.9%. It sat 24.3% below its high of Jun 18, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
IWO
IWO tracks the Russell 2000 Growth. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +7.9% with distributions reinvested, against +8.0% for its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Growth Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.24% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 1,122 positions, with the top ten at 6.4%. It sat 9.9% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, EWY or IWO?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EWY returned +79.7% and IWO +7.9%.
- Which is cheaper, EWY or IWO?
- IWO is cheaper, by 0.35 percentage points a year. That is about $35 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, EWY against IWO, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ewy-vs-iwo
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). EWY against IWO. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ewy-vs-iwo
[EWY against IWO (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ewy-vs-iwo)
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