FTC vs MDY: Differences, Returns & Fees

FTC and MDY hold 9% of their weight in the same names, and MDY returned +13.1% over the year. Net assets on Oct 20, 2026: $1.3bn for First Trust Large Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund and $25.8bn for SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust.

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MDY costs 0.35 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.2 points; MDY is 19.8 times larger.

FTC vs MDY: Differences, Returns & Fees
FTCMDY
Expense ratio0.58%0.23%
Net assets$1.3bn$25.8bn
Total return, 1 year+7.9%+13.1%
What it tracksNasdaq AlphaDEX Large Cap Growth IndexS&P MidCap 400 Index
Holdings in common9%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund9.6%7.4%
Below its high10.5%, high on Jun 22, 20266.7%, high on Aug 14, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 19, 2026.

+7.9%
FTC total return, 1 year
+13.1%
MDY total return, 1 year
0.58%
FTC expense ratio
0.23%
MDY expense ratio

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Client brief · page 1 of 2Report BR-E69454FA06

FTC and MDY are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?

  1. What each follows. FTC follows Nasdaq AlphaDEX Large Cap Growth Index and MDY follows S&P MidCap 400 Index.
  2. Holdings in common. 9% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 19, 2026).
  3. One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 20, 2026 FTC returned +7.9% and MDY +13.1% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 5.2 points.

Data as of Oct 20, 2026. The differences are picked by a fixed rule, in a fixed order; the PDF prints it. Page 2 has the returns, overlap, risks and sources.

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What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, FTC and MDY hold 9% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 19, 2026.

half

9% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first
Holding FTC MDY
Okta, Inc. 0.84% 0.92%
ATI Inc. 0.74% 0.76%
Royal Gold, Inc. 0.54% 0.59%
Nutanix, Inc. (Class A) 0.71% 0.54%
ITT Inc. 0.53% 0.52%
MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc. 0.50% 0.54%
Toast, Inc. (Class A) 0.80% 0.47%
Coeur Mining, Inc. 0.47% 0.46%
SharkNinja Inc. 0.97% 0.46%
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation 0.47% 0.45%
MKS, Inc. 0.44% 0.43%
Medpace Holdings, Inc. 0.92% 0.41%
Only in FTC
Expedia Group, Inc. 1.03%
Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. 0.99%
Corpay, Inc. 0.96%
Newmont Corporation 0.95%
Ross Stores, Inc. 0.95%
Workday, Inc. (Class A) 0.95%
DexCom, Inc. 0.92%
Wabtec Corporation 0.92%
Only in MDY
U.S. Dollar 0.97%
TechnipFMC plc 0.80%
nVent Electric plc 0.67%
US Foods Holding Corp. 0.64%
Tenet Healthcare Corporation 0.63%
Reliance Inc. 0.62%
Permian Resources Corporation Class A 0.61%
Roku Inc. Class A 0.60%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

FTC
First Trust Large Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund
MDY
SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust
Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF
What it is Tracks an index Tracks the S&P MidCap 400
Total return, 1 year +7.9% +13.1%
Its benchmark over the same days +15.8% (IVV) +13.4% (IJH)
Gap to its benchmark −8.0 pts vs IVV −0.3 pts vs IJH
Expense ratio 0.58% 0.23%
Already in the S&P 500 75.0% 0.0%
Holdings 187 401
Net assets $1.3bn $25.8bn

FTC and MDY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 20, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

About FTC

FTC tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 20, 2026 it returned +7.9% with distributions reinvested, against +15.8% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.58% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 19, 2026, 75% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 187 positions, with the top ten at 9.6%. It sat 10.5% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 20, 2026.

About MDY

MDY tracks the S&P MidCap 400. Over the year to Oct 20, 2026 it returned +13.1% with distributions reinvested, against +13.4% for its benchmark, the S&P MidCap 400 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.23% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 19, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 401 positions, with the top ten at 7.4%. It sat 6.7% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 20, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FTC or MDY?
In the year to Oct 20, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTC returned +7.9% and MDY +13.1%.
Which is cheaper, FTC or MDY?
MDY is cheaper, by 0.35 percentage points a year. That is about $35 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FTC and MDY overlap with the S&P 500?
By their latest filed holdings, 75% of FTC and 0% of MDY by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.
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ETFIQ, FTC against MDY, data as of Oct 20, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ftc-vs-mdy

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