Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
JEPQ vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, JEPQ returned +14.2% to SPY's +13.6%, and SPY charges 0.09% to JEPQ's 0.35%.
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Net assets: $44.2bn on Oct 28, 2026 for JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF, and $814.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.26 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.6 points; SPY is 18.6 times larger.
| Measure | JEPQ | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +14.2% | +13.6% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 1.6% | rose 12.4% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 11.3% | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Benchmark: Nasdaq-100, measured through QQQ | S&P 500 Index |
| Against its benchmark, same days | behind by 1.0 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.35% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $43.8bn | $814.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 50% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 38.1% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026. Method
Risk and return
May 13, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 232 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: JEPQ against QQQ, May 13, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026; SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned slightly more: +101.0% to +98.5%. JEPQ swung slightly less: 15.6% to 16.1%. SPY fell slightly less at its worst: −16.9% to −18.5%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | JEPQ | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +98.5% | +101.0% | SPY (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +16.6% | +16.9% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +21.0% | +89.2% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 15.6% | 16.1% | JEPQ (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 10.6% | 10.6% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −18.5% | −16.9% | SPY (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 56.8% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 79.0% | 100.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.71 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.92 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.78 | 0.78 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.15 | 1.19 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.173 | 0.133 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.90 | 1.00 | SPY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQ | 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 | −0.05 | −0.51 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −4.3% to +4.1% | −0.3% to +0.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.68 | −0.15 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 7.7% | 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, 232 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, JEPQ and SPY hold 50% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026.
half
50% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
JEPQ and SPY 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.
JEPQ and SPY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. JEPQ is measured against Nasdaq-100 through QQQ and SPY follows S&P 500 Index.
- Holdings in common. 50% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 28, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026).
- Cost. JEPQ charges 0.35% of assets a year and SPY 0.09%, a gap of 0.26 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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JEPQ
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, JEPQ paid 11.6% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 1.6%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +14.2%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +15.2% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 1.0 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 11.3%, paid monthly.
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
- Are JEPQ and SPY in the same category?
- JEPQ is an option-income ETF and SPY is a stock ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, JEPQ or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, JEPQ returned +14.2% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, JEPQ or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.26 percentage points a year. That is about $26 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, JEPQ against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/jepq-vs-spy
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[JEPQ against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/jepq-vs-spy)
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