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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTA returned +19.8% and IWS +20.2%.

Which is cheaper, FTA or IWS?

IWS is cheaper, by 0.35 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $35. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

By their latest filed holdings, 93% of FTA and 66% of IWS by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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FTA vs IWS: how they differ

FTA and IWS hold 32% of their weight in the same names. First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund and iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF.

IWS costs 0.35 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.4 points; IWS is 11.3 times larger.

	FTA	IWS
Expense ratio	0.58%	0.23%
Net assets	$1.4bn	$15.3bn
Total return, 1 year	+19.8%	+20.2%
Holdings in common	32%
Nasdaq-100, total return, 1 year	+23.6%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.5%	7.0%
Below its high	6.0%, high on Aug 24, 2026	4.6%, 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

+20.2%

IWS total return, 1 year

0.58%

FTA expense ratio

0.23%

IWS expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, FTA and IWS hold 32% 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

32% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding FTA IWS

Marathon Petroleum Corporation 0.59% 0.67%

The Allstate Corporation 0.90% 0.59%

Phillips 66 0.56% 1.06%

Devon Energy Corporation 0.92% 0.55%

Kinder Morgan, Inc. 0.55% 0.63%

Nucor Corporation 0.55% 0.54%

ONEOK, Inc. 0.54% 0.57%

Delta Air Lines, Inc. 0.69% 0.47%

PayPal Holdings, Inc. 0.74% 0.47%

Xcel Energy Inc. 0.73% 0.46%

Occidental Petroleum Corporation 0.95% 0.44%

Exelon Corporation 0.72% 0.43%

Only in FTA

ConocoPhillips 0.94%

EOG Resources, Inc. 0.94%

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (Class B) 0.91%

Honeywell International Inc. 0.86%

Comcast Corporation (Class A) 0.83%

AT&T Inc. 0.80%

Verizon Communications Inc. 0.79%

General Motors Company 0.75%

Only in IWS

HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE 0.94%

MODERNA 0.72%

DIGITAL REALTY TRUST REIT 0.65%

AMETEK INC 0.57%

REALTY INCOME REIT 0.51%

BECTON DICKINSON 0.50%

UNITED RENTALS 0.50%

VYLOR 0.49%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

FTA

First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund

IWS

iShares Russell Mid-Cap 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% +20.2%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +2.5 pts +3.0 pts

Expense ratio 0.58% 0.23%

Already in the S&P 500 93.0% 66.1%

Holdings 187 719

Net assets $1.4bn $15.3bn

FTA and IWS 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.

IWS in plain words

IWS tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +20.2% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500 and +23.6% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.23% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 66% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 719 positions, with the top ten at 7.0%. It sat 4.6% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FTA or IWS?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTA returned +19.8% and IWS +20.2%.
Which is cheaper, FTA or IWS?: IWS is cheaper, by 0.35 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $35. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FTA and IWS overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 93% of FTA and 66% of IWS by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

FTA vs SDY FTA vs VOE FTA vs IJJ FTA vs WTV IWS vs RSPA IVOV vs IWS IMCV vs IWS IWS vs VFMF

FTA on its own →IWS 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 ↗IWS filings on SEC EDGAR ↗IWS prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for IWS ↗

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 IWS, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fta-vs-iws

Open data

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