Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
LJUL vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, LJUL returned +5.0% to SPY's +13.6%, and SPY charges 0.09% to LJUL's 0.79%.
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Net assets: $9.0m on Oct 28, 2026 for Innovator Premium Income 15 Buffer ETF - July, and $814.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.70 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 8.6 points; SPY is far larger, $810.0bn against $9.0m.
| Measure | LJUL | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +5.0% | +13.6% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 0.4% | rose 12.4% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 5.3% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 35% of the Oct 2, 2026 payment | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Benchmark: Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, measured through VOO | S&P 500 Index |
| Against its benchmark, same days | behind by 8.7 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.79% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026 | $9.0m | $810.0bn |
| 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 returns · each against VOOSPY returned more: +39.3% to +12.8%. LJUL swung less: 2.2% to 15.0%. LJUL fell less at its worst: −2.0% to −16.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | LJUL | SPY | VOO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +12.8% | +39.3% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +5.4% | +15.6% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | 0.0% | +35.7% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 2.2% | 15.0% | LJUL | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 1.6% | 9.9% | LJUL | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −2.0% | −16.9% | LJUL | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 9.0% | 100.2% | 100.0% | SPY | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 5.0% | 100.3% | 100.0% | LJUL | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 0.11 | 1.01 | 1.00 | LJUL lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.60 | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.53 | 0.76 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 0.69 | 1.16 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.101 | 0.114 | 0.115 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 2.65 | 0.92 | LJUL | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | VOO | VOO | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.2% a year | −0.1% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.17 | −0.72 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −2.0% to +1.6% | −0.5% to +0.2% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | −0.78 | −0.20 | SPY | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 13.3% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 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, LJUL and SPY 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
LJUL 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.
LJUL and SPY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. LJUL is measured against Vanguard S&P 500 ETF through VOO and SPY follows S&P 500 Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 LJUL returned +5.0% and SPY +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 8.6 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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.
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 LJUL and SPY in the same category?
- LJUL 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, LJUL or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, LJUL returned +5.0% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, LJUL or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.70 percentage points a year. That is about $70 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, LJUL against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ljul-vs-spy
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[LJUL against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ljul-vs-spy)
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