Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IWD vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IWD returned +27.5% to SPY's +13.6%; 60% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $83.0bn for iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF and $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.09 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 13.9 points; SPY is 9.8 times larger.
| Measure | IWD | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +27.5% | +13.6% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Russell 1000 Value Index | S&P 500 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.18% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $83.0bn | $814.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 60% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 29.6% | 38.1% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Jun 2, 2000 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,377 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IWD against VONV, Oct 1, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned slightly more: +721.0% to +688.9%. IWD and SPY swung about the same: 17.8% and 17.4%. SPY fell slightly less at its worst: −54.6% to −59.8%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IWD | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +688.9% | +721.0% | SPY (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +8.1% | +8.3% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +343.1% | +414.0% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.8% | 17.4% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 12.7% | 12.4% | SPY (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −59.8% | −54.6% | SPY (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.0% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.2% | 100.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.43 | 0.44 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.60 | 0.62 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.110 | 0.133 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.14 | 0.15 | SPY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | VONV | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.23 | −0.51 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.6% to +0.5% | −0.3% to +0.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.08 | −0.15 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.1% | 0.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,377 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, IWD and SPY hold 60% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
60% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
IWD and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IWD and SPY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IWD follows Russell 1000 Value Index and SPY follows S&P 500 Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IWD returned +27.5% and SPY +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 13.9 points.
- Size. IWD has $83.0bn in net assets and SPY $814.8bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); SPY is 9.8 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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IWD
IWD tracks the Russell 1000 value. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +27.5% with distributions reinvested, against +27.7% for its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.18% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 90% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 871 positions, with the top ten at 29.6%.
SPY
SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.6% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% 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 504 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, IWD or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IWD returned +27.5% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, IWD or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.09 percentage points a year. That is about $9 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, IWD against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwd-vs-spy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). IWD against SPY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwd-vs-spy
[IWD against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwd-vs-spy)
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