Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
SPY vs UJAN: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SPY returned +13.6% to UJAN's +10.0%, and SPY charges 0.09% to UJAN's 0.79%.
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Net assets: $814.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, and $252m on Oct 28, 2026 for Innovator U.S. Equity Ultra Buffer ETF - Jan.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.70 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.6 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $251m.
| Measure | SPY | UJAN |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.6% | +10.0% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Index fall to the buffer | 16.1% | |
| Fund price fall to the buffer | 12.9% | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Index | SPY |
| The outcome period | ||
| Buffer left, in index points | 30.0% of 30.0% | |
| Days left in the period | 64 | |
| Period ends | Dec 31, 2026 | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.09% | 0.79% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $814.8bn | $251m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 38.1% | |
Risk and return
Jan 11, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026 · 406 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; UJAN against SPY, Jan 11, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned more: +229.0% to +81.5%. UJAN swung less: 6.8% to 18.0%. UJAN fell less at its worst: −13.5% to −31.8%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | SPY | UJAN | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +229.0% | +81.5% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +16.5% | +7.9% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +193.4% | +81.5% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 18.0% | 6.8% | UJAN | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 12.3% | 4.7% | UJAN | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −31.8% | −13.5% | UJAN | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.8% | 26.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 40.9% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.35 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.85 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.78 | 0.74 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.14 | 1.07 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.133 | 0.145 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.52 | 0.59 | UJAN | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | VOO | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | +0.2% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.51 | 0.16 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.3% to +0.1% | −1.7% to +2.0% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.15 | −0.75 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 12.1% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 406 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
SPY and UJAN on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
SPY and UJAN do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. SPY follows S&P 500 Index and UJAN follows SPY.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 SPY returned +13.6% and UJAN +10.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 3.6 points.
- Cost. SPY charges 0.09% of assets a year and UJAN 0.79%, a gap of 0.70 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%.
SPY had already risen past this fund's cap of +11.4% for the period on Oct 28, 2026, so in index terms there is no more upside to collect. The fund's own price can still drift up to about 2.2% as the period runs out.
The fund's price can fall 12.9% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's number. In index terms, SPY can fall 16.1% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 30.0% of the 30.0% buffer still sits below today's SPY level. 64 days remained on Oct 28, 2026. On Dec 31, 2026 the period ends and a new cap is set.
Questions people ask
- Are SPY and UJAN in the same category?
- SPY is a stock ETF and UJAN is a buffer ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, SPY or UJAN?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +13.6% and UJAN +10.0%.
- Which is cheaper, SPY or UJAN?
- 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.
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ETFIQ, SPY against UJAN, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-ujan
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