Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
MSTY vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, MSTY returned −43.4% to SPY's +13.6%, and SPY charges 0.09% to MSTY's 0.99%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about MSTY and SPY
Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $1.0bn for YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF and $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.90 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 57.0 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $1.0bn.
| Measure | MSTY | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −43.4% | +13.6% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 75.2% | rose 12.4% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 60.3% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 14% of the Oct 30, 2026 payment | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Benchmark: MicroStrategy (MSTR) | S&P 500 Index |
| Against its benchmark, same days | ahead by 5.6 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.99% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $1.0bn | $814.8bn |
| 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 Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Mar 1, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026 · 138 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: MSTY against MSTR, Mar 1, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026; SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned more: +53.0% to +36.1%. SPY swung less: 14.4% to 61.8%. SPY fell less at its worst: −16.9% to −76.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | MSTY | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +36.1% | +53.0% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +12.3% | +17.4% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −89.1% | +48.2% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 61.8% | 14.4% | SPY | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 40.0% | 9.5% | SPY | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −76.2% | −16.9% | SPY | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 35.5% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 97.2% | 100.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.73 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.93 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.42 | 0.88 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.65 | 1.35 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.358 | 0.133 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.16 | 1.03 | SPY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | MSTR | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −2.3% 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 | −21.9% to +17.3% | −0.3% to +0.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.47 | −0.15 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 27.4% | 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, 138 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, MSTY and SPY hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
MSTY 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.
MSTY and SPY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. MSTY is measured against MicroStrategy (MSTR) and SPY follows S&P 500 Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 28, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 MSTY returned −43.4% and SPY +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 57.0 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
MSTY
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, MSTY paid 33.4% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 75.2%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned −43.4%. MicroStrategy (MSTR) returned −49.0% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 5.6 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 60.3%, paid weekly. YieldMax estimates that 14% of the distribution paid Oct 30, 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 MSTY and SPY in the same category?
- MSTY 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, MSTY or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, MSTY returned −43.4% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, MSTY or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.90 percentage points a year. That is about $90 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.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, MSTY against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/msty-vs-spy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). MSTY against SPY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/msty-vs-spy
[MSTY against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/msty-vs-spy)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.