Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
SPY vs TLT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SPY returned +13.6% to TLT's −7.9%; 0% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and $47.4bn for iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.06 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 21.5 points; SPY is 17.2 times larger.
| Measure | SPY | TLT |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.6% | −7.9% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 42.6%, high on Aug 4, 2020 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Index | ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.09% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $814.8bn | $47.4bn |
| 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. Method
Risk and return
Aug 2, 2002 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,264 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; TLT against BBLB, Apr 28, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned more: +1,260.9% to +123.8%. TLT swung less: 13.4% to 17.2%. TLT fell less at its worst: −47.8% to −54.6%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | SPY | TLT | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +1,260.9% | +123.8% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +11.3% | +3.4% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +775.6% | −3.0% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.2% | 13.4% | TLT | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 12.1% | 9.5% | TLT | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −54.6% | −47.8% | TLT | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.8% | 102.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 101.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.01 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.61 | 0.18 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.87 | 0.26 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.133 | −0.072 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.21 | 0.07 | SPY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | VOO | BBLB | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.51 | −0.01 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.3% to +0.1% | −0.8% to +0.8% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.15 | −0.10 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 0.7% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,264 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, SPY and TLT hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
SPY and TLT on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
SPY and TLT do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. SPY follows S&P 500 Index and TLT follows ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 SPY returned +13.6% and TLT −7.9% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 21.5 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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%.
TLT
TLT tracks an index of 20+ year Treasuries. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −7.9% with distributions reinvested, against −7.8% for its benchmark, the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. It sat 42.6% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, SPY or TLT?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +13.6% and TLT −7.9%.
- Which is cheaper, SPY or TLT?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.06 percentage points a year. That is about $6 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, SPY against TLT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-tlt
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). SPY against TLT. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-tlt
[SPY against TLT (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-tlt)
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