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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTA returned +19.8% and SMIG +9.7%.

Which is cheaper, FTA or SMIG?

FTA is cheaper, by 0.02 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $2. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

By their latest filed holdings, 93% of FTA and 35% of SMIG by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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FTA vs SMIG: how they differ

FTA and SMIG hold 4% of their weight in the same names, and FTA returned +19.8% over the year. First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund and Bahl & Gaynor Small/Mid Cap Income Growth ETF.

FTA costs 0.02 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.1 points.

	FTA	SMIG
Expense ratio	0.58%	0.60%
Net assets, FTA as of Oct 9, 2026 and SMIG as of Jun 30, 2026	$1.4bn	$1.5bn
Total return, 1 year	+19.8%	+9.7%
Holdings in common	4%
Nasdaq-100, total return, 1 year	+23.6%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.5%	42.3%
Below its high	6.0%, high on Aug 24, 2026	6.4%, high on Aug 14, 2026

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

+19.8%

FTA total return, 1 year

+9.7%

SMIG total return, 1 year

0.58%

FTA expense ratio

0.60%

SMIG expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, FTA and SMIG hold 4% 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

4% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding FTA SMIG

The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. 0.92% 2.67%

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. 0.72% 0.67%

Atmos Energy Corporation 0.53% 1.16%

CMS Energy Corporation 0.53% 1.76%

NiSource Inc. 0.53% 3.30%

Alliant Energy Corporation 0.36% 3.05%

Snap-on Incorporated 0.35% 4.70%

Packaging Corporation of America 0.17% 3.30%

Only in FTA

HF Sinclair Corp. 0.99%

Ovintiv Inc. 0.97%

PTC Inc. 0.97%

Constellation Brands, Inc. (Class A) 0.95%

EQT Corporation 0.95%

Occidental Petroleum Corporation 0.95%

Permian Resources Corp. 0.95%

Carnival Corporation Ltd. 0.94%

Only in SMIG

Silicon Motion Technology Corp 6.66%

Targa Resources Corp 4.89%

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%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

FTA

First Trust Large Cap Value 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 +19.8% +9.7%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +2.5 pts −7.6 pts

Expense ratio 0.58% 0.60%

Already in the S&P 500 93.0% 35.4%

Holdings 187 38

Net assets, FTA as of Oct 9, 2026 and SMIG as of Jun 30, 2026 $1.4bn $1.5bn

FTA and SMIG 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.

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, FTA or SMIG?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTA returned +19.8% and SMIG +9.7%.
Which is cheaper, FTA or SMIG?: FTA is cheaper, by 0.02 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $2. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FTA and SMIG overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 93% of FTA and 35% of SMIG by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

FTA vs REGL FTA vs PKW FTA vs VFMF FTA vs PEY FTXR vs SMIG ILCV vs SMIG RWK vs SMIG RSPA vs SMIG

FTA on its own →SMIG 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 ↗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, FTA against SMIG, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fta-vs-smig

Open data

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