Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
SDTY vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SDTY returned +13.4% to SPY's +13.6%, and SPY charges 0.09% to SDTY's 1.08%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $41m for YieldMax S&P 500 0DTE Covered Call Strategy ETF and $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.99 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.2 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $41m.
| Measure | SDTY | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.4% | +13.6% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 13.3% | rose 12.4% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 23.3% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 58% of the Oct 29, 2026 payment | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Benchmark: Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, measured through VOO | S&P 500 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 1.08% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $41m | $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
Feb 14, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026 · 88 weekly returns · each against VOOSPY returned more: +27.1% to +21.6%. SDTY swung slightly less: 13.9% to 15.3%. SDTY and SPY fell about the same at their worst: −17.2% and −16.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | SDTY | SPY | VOO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +21.6% | +27.1% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +12.2% | +15.2% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | −21.0% | +24.6% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 13.9% | 15.3% | SDTY (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 10.4% | 10.2% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −17.2% | −16.9% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 79.6% | 100.4% | 100.0% | SPY | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 91.0% | 100.4% | 100.0% | SDTY (slight) | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 0.87 | 1.01 | 1.00 | SDTY lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.92 | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.62 | 0.74 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 0.82 | 1.11 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.098 | 0.113 | 0.114 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 0.71 | 0.90 | SPY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | VOO | VOO | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −1.4% a year | −0.1% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.47 | −0.62 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −7.6% to +4.7% | −0.6% to +0.3% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | −0.65 | −0.13 | SPY | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 4.4% | 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, 88 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, SDTY 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
SDTY 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.
SDTY and SPY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. SDTY 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 Oct 28, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026).
- Cost. SDTY charges 1.08% of assets a year and SPY 0.09%, a gap of 0.99 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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SDTY
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SDTY paid 24.6% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 13.3%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +13.4%. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) returned +13.7% over the same days, so a holder was about even. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 23.3%, paid weekly. YieldMax estimates that 58% 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 SDTY and SPY in the same category?
- SDTY 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, SDTY or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SDTY returned +13.4% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, SDTY or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.99 percentage points a year. That is about $99 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, SDTY against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/sdty-vs-spy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). SDTY against SPY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/sdty-vs-spy
[SDTY against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/sdty-vs-spy)
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