Which returned more over the last year, MNA or SPY?

In the year to Sep 19, 2026, with distributions reinvested, MNA returned +1.9% and SPY returned +16.6%, so SPY returned more.

Which is cheaper, MNA or SPY?

MNA charges 0.78% a year and SPY charges 0.09%, so SPY is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Are MNA and SPY the same kind of fund?

No. MNA is an alternatives ETF and SPY is an index ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

Data as of Sep 19, 2026.

ETFIQetfiq.com · independent ETF data

MNA vs SPY: how they differ

Over the year SPY returned more, +16.6% to MNA's +1.9%, and SPY charges 0.09% to MNA's 0.78%.

NYLIM Merger Arbitrage ETF and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.

MNA and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Sep 19, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	MNA NYLIM Merger Arbitrage ETF	SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
Where it sits	Alternatives ETF	Core fund
Issuer	New York Life Investments	State Street
What it is	Event driven	Tracks the S&P 500
Total return, 1 year	+1.9%	+16.6%
S&P 500 over the same days	+16.6%	+16.6%
Gap to the S&P 500	−14.7 pts	0.0 pts
Expense ratio	0.78%	0.09%
Holdings	not filed	505
Net assets	$249m	$785.0bn

MNA in plain words

MNA is an event driven fund. ETFIQ measures what every alternatives fund is sold on: whether it moves differently from the stock market. Over the year to Sep 18, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of +0.15 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.03, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.03% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 22 of those 52 weeks, by 1.24% on average. In the same weeks MNA rose 0.04% on average, a down-week capture of −3.1%. Over the same 52 weeks MNA returned +2.7% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 0.9 percentage points behind cash.

SPY in plain words

SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Sep 18, 2026 it returned +16.6% with distributions reinvested, against +16.6% for the S&P 500 and +21.8% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Sep 18, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 505 positions, with the top ten at 38.5%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, MNA or SPY?: In the year to Sep 19, 2026, with distributions reinvested, MNA returned +1.9% and SPY returned +16.6%, so SPY returned more.
Which is cheaper, MNA or SPY?: MNA charges 0.78% a year and SPY charges 0.09%, so SPY is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Are MNA and SPY the same kind of fund?: No. MNA is an alternatives ETF and SPY is an index ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

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Where these figures came from

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.

MNA against SPY, ETFIQ, data as of Sep 19, 2026. Every figure is calculated from a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page. ETFIQ, MNA against SPY, data as of Sep 19, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/mna-vs-spy Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources