Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
OVL vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, OVL returned +15.7% to SPY's +13.6%, and SPY charges 0.09% to OVL's 0.79%.
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Net assets: $427m on Aug 31, 2026 for Overlay Shares Large Cap Equity ETF, 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 2.1 points.
| Measure | OVL | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +15.7% | +13.6% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 5.3% | rose 12.4% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 10.5% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 100% of the Oct 29, 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 | ahead by 2.0 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.79% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, OVL as of Aug 31, 2026 and SPY as of Oct 27, 2026 | $427m | $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 Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Oct 11, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026 · 367 weekly returns · each against VOOOVL returned slightly more: +198.4% to +183.7%. SPY swung less: 18.5% to 21.1%. SPY fell slightly less at its worst: −31.8% to −35.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | OVL | SPY | VOO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +198.4% | +183.7% | OVL (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +16.8% | +15.9% | OVL (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | +124.3% | +156.5% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 21.1% | 18.5% | SPY | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 14.5% | 12.8% | SPY | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −35.2% | −31.8% | SPY (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 121.3% | 99.9% | 100.0% | OVL | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 108.8% | 100.0% | 100.0% | SPY (slight) | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 1.13 | 1.00 | 1.00 | SPY lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.99 | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.70 | 0.73 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 1.02 | 1.07 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.131 | 0.136 | 0.137 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 0.48 | 0.50 | SPY (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | VOO | VOO | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.6% a year | 0.0% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.64 | −0.36 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −2.4% to +1.2% | −0.3% to +0.2% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | 0.35 | −0.12 | OVL | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.4% | 0.4% | 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, 367 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, OVL and SPY hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
OVL 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.
OVL and SPY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. OVL 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 Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 OVL returned +15.7% and SPY +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.1 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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OVL
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, OVL paid 9.7% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 5.3%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +15.7%. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) returned +13.7% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 2.0 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 10.5%, paid monthly. Overlay Shares estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Oct 29, 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 OVL and SPY in the same category?
- OVL 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, OVL or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, OVL returned +15.7% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, OVL 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, OVL against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ovl-vs-spy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). OVL against SPY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ovl-vs-spy
[OVL against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ovl-vs-spy)
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