Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IVV vs LJUL: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IVV returned +13.7% to LJUL's +5.0%, and IVV charges 0.03% to LJUL's 0.79%.
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Net assets: $885.1bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, and $9.0m on Oct 28, 2026 for Innovator Premium Income 15 Buffer ETF - July.
Pair scorecard
IVV costs 0.76 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 8.7 points; IVV is far larger, $880.6bn against $9.0m.
| Measure | IVV | LJUL |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.7% | +5.0% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 12.4% | fell 0.4% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 5.3% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 35% of the Oct 2, 2026 payment | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 | Benchmark: Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, measured through VOO |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.79% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026 | $880.6bn | $9.0m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 38.1% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Jul 12, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026 · 119 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IVV against SPY, May 26, 2000 to Oct 23, 2026; LJUL against VOO, Jul 12, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026.
IVV returned more: +39.5% to +12.8%. LJUL swung less: 2.2% to 15.1%. LJUL fell less at its worst: −2.0% to −16.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IVV | LJUL | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +39.5% | +12.8% | IVV | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +15.6% | +5.4% | IVV | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +35.6% | 0.0% | IVV | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 15.1% | 2.2% | LJUL | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 9.9% | 1.6% | LJUL | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −16.9% | −2.0% | LJUL | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.3% | 9.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.7% | 5.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.99 | 0.11 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.60 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.76 | 0.53 | IVV | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.16 | 0.69 | IVV | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.081 | 0.101 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.93 | 2.65 | LJUL | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | SPY | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.1% a year | −0.2% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.33 | −0.17 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.5% | −2.0% to +1.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.00 | −0.78 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.2% | 13.3% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 119 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, IVV and LJUL hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
IVV and LJUL on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Cash paid: distributions over the window, as a share of the starting price.
IVV and LJUL do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IVV follows S&P 500 and LJUL is measured against Vanguard S&P 500 ETF through VOO.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IVV returned +13.7% and LJUL +5.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 8.7 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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IVV
IVV tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.7% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 505 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.
LJUL
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, LJUL paid 5.2% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 0.4%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +5.0%. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) returned +13.7% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 8.7 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 5.3%, paid monthly. Innovator estimates that 35% of the distribution paid Oct 2, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
Questions people ask
- Are IVV and LJUL in the same category?
- IVV is a stock ETF and LJUL is an option-income ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, IVV or LJUL?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IVV returned +13.7% and LJUL +5.0%.
- Which is cheaper, IVV or LJUL?
- IVV is cheaper, by 0.76 percentage points a year. That is about $76 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, IVV against LJUL, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ivv-vs-ljul
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