Which returned more over the last year, FEX or FXO?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FEX returned +17.6% and FXO +7.9%.

Which is cheaper, FEX or FXO?

FEX is cheaper, by 0.03 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $3. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do FEX and FXO overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 86% of FEX and 41% of FXO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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FEX vs FXO: how they differ

FEX and FXO hold 12% of their weight in the same names, and FEX returned +17.6% over the year. First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund and First Trust Financials AlphaDEX Fund.

FEX costs 0.03 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 9.7 points; FEX is 1.5 times larger.

	FEX	FXO
Expense ratio	0.57%	0.60%
Net assets	$1.6bn	$1.0bn
Total return, 1 year	+17.6%	+7.9%
Holdings in common	12%
Nasdaq-100, total return, 1 year	+23.6%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	5.0%	17.1%
Below its high	4.1%, high on Aug 14, 2026	7.1%, high on Sep 3, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 9, 2026.

+17.6%

FEX total return, 1 year

+7.9%

FXO total return, 1 year

0.57%

FEX expense ratio

0.60%

FXO expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, FEX and FXO hold 12% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Oct 9, 2026.

50%

half

12% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding FEX FXO

The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. 0.46% 1.72%

American International Group, Inc. 0.45% 1.69%

Arch Capital Group Ltd. 0.45% 1.69%

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (Class B) 0.45% 1.69%

The Allstate Corporation 0.45% 1.68%

The Travelers Companies, Inc. 0.45% 1.28%

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. 0.44% 0.64%

Cincinnati Financial Corporation 0.44% 1.67%

Markel Group Inc 0.44% 1.68%

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. 0.44% 1.65%

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. 0.42% 1.58%

Chubb Limited 0.36% 0.98%

Only in FEX

PTC Inc. 0.60%

Everpure, Inc. (Class A) 0.51%

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company 0.50%

HF Sinclair Corp. 0.49%

NetApp, Inc. 0.49%

Okta, Inc. 0.48%

Ovintiv Inc. 0.48%

Constellation Brands, Inc. (Class A) 0.47%

Only in FXO

Chime Financial, Inc. (Class A) 1.84%

MGIC Investment Corporation 1.73%

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. 1.70%

Assured Guaranty Ltd. 1.68%

Axis Capital Holdings Limited 1.67%

Old Republic International Corporation 1.67%

White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. 1.67%

Everest Group, Ltd. 1.64%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

FEX

First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund

FXO

First Trust Financials AlphaDEX Fund

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer First Trust First Trust

What it is Tracks an index Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +17.6% +7.9%

S&P 500 over the same days +17.3% +17.3%

Gap to the S&P 500 +0.4 pts −9.3 pts

Expense ratio 0.57% 0.60%

Already in the S&P 500 85.6% 40.9%

Holdings 375 105

Net assets $1.6bn $1.0bn

FEX and FXO on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

FEX in plain words

FEX tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.6% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500 and +23.6% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.57% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 86% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 375 positions, with the top ten at 5.0%. It sat 4.1% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

FXO in plain words

FXO tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +7.9% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500 and +23.6% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.60% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 41% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 105 positions, with the top ten at 17.1%. It sat 7.1% below its high of Sep 3, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FEX or FXO?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FEX returned +17.6% and FXO +7.9%.
Which is cheaper, FEX or FXO?: FEX is cheaper, by 0.03 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $3. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FEX and FXO overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 86% of FEX and 41% of FXO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

FEX vs PEY FEX vs FTXR FEX vs VFMF FEX vs IMCV FXO vs RSPA FXO vs IVOV FXO vs IMCV FXO vs VFMF

FEX on its own →FXO on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

FEX and FXO filings on SEC EDGAR ↗FEX and FXO prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗First Trust page for FEX ↗First Trust page for FXO ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Weight overlap is an ETFIQ calculation: for every security both funds hold, the smaller of the two weights, summed.

Cite this page

ETFIQ, FEX against FXO, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fex-vs-fxo

Open data

Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.