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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FEX returned +17.6% and SMIG +9.7%.

Which is cheaper, FEX or SMIG?

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 SMIG overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 86% of FEX and 35% of SMIG by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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FEX vs SMIG: how they differ

FEX and SMIG hold 3% of their weight in the same names, and FEX returned +17.6% over the year. First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund and Bahl & Gaynor Small/Mid Cap Income Growth ETF.

FEX costs 0.03 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 7.9 points.

	FEX	SMIG
Expense ratio	0.57%	0.60%
Net assets, FEX as of Oct 9, 2026 and SMIG as of Jun 30, 2026	$1.6bn	$1.5bn
Total return, 1 year	+17.6%	+9.7%
Holdings in common	3%
Nasdaq-100, total return, 1 year	+23.6%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	5.0%	42.3%
Below its high	4.1%, high on Aug 14, 2026	6.4%, high on Aug 14, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

+17.6%

FEX total return, 1 year

+9.7%

SMIG total return, 1 year

0.57%

FEX expense ratio

0.60%

SMIG expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, FEX and SMIG hold 3% 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 Jun 30, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

50%

half

3% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding FEX SMIG

NetApp, Inc. 0.49% 2.43%

The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. 0.46% 2.67%

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. 0.44% 0.67%

Alliant Energy Corporation 0.27% 3.05%

Atmos Energy Corporation 0.27% 1.16%

CMS Energy Corporation 0.27% 1.76%

NiSource Inc. 0.27% 3.30%

Snap-on Incorporated 0.26% 4.70%

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. 0.19% 1.57%

Targa Resources Corp. 0.18% 4.89%

Packaging Corporation of America 0.17% 3.30%

Only in FEX

PTC Inc. 0.60%

Everpure, Inc. (Class A) 0.51%

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company 0.50%

HF Sinclair Corp. 0.49%

Okta, Inc. 0.48%

Ovintiv Inc. 0.48%

Constellation Brands, Inc. (Class A) 0.47%

Dell Technologies Inc. (Class C) 0.47%

Only in SMIG

Silicon Motion Technology Corp 6.66%

Victory Capital Holdings Inc 4.30%

DT Midstream Inc 4.19%

Hubbell Inc 4.01%

Gildan Activewear Inc 3.78%

Evercore Inc 3.17%

First Financial Bancorp 2.99%

American Healthcare REIT Inc 2.97%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

FEX

First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund

SMIG

Bahl & Gaynor Small/Mid Cap Income Growth ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer First Trust Bahl & Gaynor

What it is Tracks an index Actively managed

Total return, 1 year +17.6% +9.7%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +0.4 pts −7.6 pts

Expense ratio 0.57% 0.60%

Already in the S&P 500 85.6% 35.4%

Holdings 375 38

Net assets, FEX as of Oct 9, 2026 and SMIG as of Jun 30, 2026 $1.6bn $1.5bn

FEX and SMIG 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.

SMIG in plain words

SMIG is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +9.7% 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 filed for Jun 30, 2026, 35% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 38 positions, with the top ten at 42.3%. It sat 6.4% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FEX or SMIG?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FEX returned +17.6% and SMIG +9.7%.
Which is cheaper, FEX or SMIG?: 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 SMIG overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 86% of FEX and 35% of SMIG by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

FEX vs SDOG FEX vs RPV FEX vs REGL FEX vs PKW FTA vs SMIG IVOV vs SMIG IMCV vs SMIG SMIG vs VFMF

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

Where these figures came from

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

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 SMIG, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fex-vs-smig

Open data

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