Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
SPY vs WDTE: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SPY returned +13.6% to WDTE's +15.2%, and SPY charges 0.09% to WDTE's 1.03%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and $71m for Defiance S&P 500 Weekly Distribution ETF.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.94 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.6 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $71m.
| Measure | SPY | WDTE |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.6% | +15.2% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 12.4% | fell 15.0% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 30.0% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 100% of the Oct 16, 2026 payment | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Index | Benchmark: S&P 500, measured through SPY |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.09% | 1.03% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $814.8bn | $71m |
| 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
Sep 29, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026 · 160 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; WDTE against SPY, Sep 29, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned more: +84.3% to +50.7%. WDTE swung less: 10.7% to 14.2%. WDTE fell less at its worst: −14.5% to −16.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | SPY | WDTE | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +84.3% | +50.7% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +22.0% | +14.3% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +77.8% | −52.9% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 14.2% | 10.7% | WDTE | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 9.1% | 7.5% | WDTE | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −16.9% | −14.5% | WDTE | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.8% | 63.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 81.7% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.71 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.88 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 1.16 | 0.88 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.81 | 1.26 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.133 | 0.133 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 1.30 | 0.98 | SPY | 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 | −2.2% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.51 | −1.05 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.3% to +0.1% | −6.4% to +2.0% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.15 | −1.27 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 5.5% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 160 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, SPY and WDTE 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
SPY and WDTE 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.
SPY and WDTE do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. SPY follows S&P 500 Index and WDTE is measured against S&P 500 through SPY.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026).
- Cost. SPY charges 0.09% of assets a year and WDTE 1.03%, a gap of 0.94 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%.
WDTE
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, WDTE paid 27.7% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 15.0%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +15.2%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +13.6% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 1.6 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 30.0%, paid weekly. Defiance estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Oct 16, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
Questions people ask
- Are SPY and WDTE in the same category?
- SPY is a stock ETF and WDTE is an option-income 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 WDTE?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +13.6% and WDTE +15.2%.
- Which is cheaper, SPY or WDTE?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.94 percentage points a year. That is about $94 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 WDTE, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-wdte
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). SPY against WDTE. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-wdte
[SPY against WDTE (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-wdte)
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