Which returned more over the last year, FTA or IJJ?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTA returned +19.8% and IJJ +10.5%.

Which is cheaper, FTA or IJJ?

IJJ is cheaper, by 0.40 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $40. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do FTA and IJJ overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 93% of FTA and 0% of IJJ by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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FTA vs IJJ: how they differ

FTA and IJJ hold 6% of their weight in the same names, and FTA returned +19.8% over the year. First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund and iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF.

IJJ costs 0.40 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 9.3 points; IJJ is 6.3 times larger.

	FTA	IJJ
Expense ratio	0.58%	0.18%
Net assets	$1.4bn	$8.4bn
Total return, 1 year	+19.8%	+10.5%
Holdings in common	6%
Nasdaq-100, total return, 1 year	+23.6%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.5%	11.0%
Below its high	6.0%, high on Aug 24, 2026	7.1%, high on Aug 14, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 8, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

+19.8%

FTA total return, 1 year

+10.5%

IJJ total return, 1 year

0.58%

FTA expense ratio

0.18%

IJJ expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, FTA and IJJ hold 6% 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 8, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

50%

half

6% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding FTA IJJ

HF Sinclair Corp. 0.99% 1.13%

Ovintiv Inc. 0.97% 1.06%

Permian Resources Corp. 0.95% 1.16%

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. 0.85% 0.83%

Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated 0.69% 0.85%

Reliance Inc. 0.37% 1.23%

TD SYNNEX Corporation 0.37% 1.30%

East West Bancorp, Inc. 0.35% 0.51%

W.P. Carey Inc. 0.34% 0.41%

Performance Food Group Company 0.18% 0.91%

Only in FTA

PTC Inc. 0.97%

Constellation Brands, Inc. (Class A) 0.95%

EQT Corporation 0.95%

Occidental Petroleum Corporation 0.95%

Carnival Corporation Ltd. 0.94%

ConocoPhillips 0.94%

EOG Resources, Inc. 0.94%

PG&E Corporation 0.94%

Only in IJJ

US FOODS HOLDING 1.27%

WESCO INTERNATIONAL 1.05%

REINSURANCE GROUP OF AMERICA 1.01%

SHARKNINJA 0.93%

ENTEGRIS INC 0.90%

ARAMARK 0.89%

PINNACLE FINANCIAL PARTNERS 0.86%

UNUM 0.81%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

FTA

First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund

IJJ

iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer First Trust iShares

What it is Tracks an index Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +19.8% +10.5%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +2.5 pts −6.7 pts

Expense ratio 0.58% 0.18%

Already in the S&P 500 93.0% 0.0%

Holdings 187 303

Net assets $1.4bn $8.4bn

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

FTA in plain words

FTA tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +19.8% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500 and +23.6% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.58% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 93% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 187 positions, with the top ten at 9.5%. It sat 6.0% below its high of Aug 24, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

IJJ in plain words

IJJ tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +10.5% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500 and +23.6% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.18% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 303 positions, with the top ten at 11.0%. It sat 7.1% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FTA or IJJ?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTA returned +19.8% and IJJ +10.5%.
Which is cheaper, FTA or IJJ?: IJJ is cheaper, by 0.40 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $40. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FTA and IJJ overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 93% of FTA and 0% of IJJ by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

FTA vs FXO FTA vs VFLO FTA vs FVD FTA vs NOBL IJJ vs RWK IJJ vs RSPA IJJ vs IVOV IJJ vs IMCV

FTA on its own →IJJ on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

FTA filings on SEC EDGAR ↗FTA prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗First Trust page for FTA ↗IJJ filings on SEC EDGAR ↗IJJ prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for IJJ ↗

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, FTA against IJJ, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fta-vs-ijj

Open data

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