Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
SPY vs XISE: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SPY returned +13.6% to XISE's +6.4%, and SPY charges 0.09% to XISE's 0.85%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and $33m for FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer & Premium Income ETF - September.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.76 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 7.2 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $33m.
| Measure | SPY | XISE |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.6% | +6.4% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 12.4% | rose 0.2% |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 100% of the Sep 21, 2026 payment | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Index | Benchmark: Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, measured through VOO |
| Against its benchmark, same days | behind by 7.3 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.09% | 0.85% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $814.8bn | $33m |
| 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
Sep 29, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026 · 160 weekly returns · each against VOOSPY returned more: +84.3% to +22.1%. XISE swung less: 3.5% to 14.2%. XISE fell less at its worst: −4.3% to −16.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | SPY | XISE | VOO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +84.3% | +22.1% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +22.0% | +6.7% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | +77.8% | +0.9% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 14.2% | 3.5% | XISE | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 9.1% | 2.6% | XISE | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −16.9% | −4.3% | XISE | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 100.0% | 13.6% | 100.0% | SPY | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 100.2% | 13.9% | 100.0% | XISE | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.20 | 1.00 | XISE lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.64 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 1.16 | 0.59 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 1.81 | 0.80 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.164 | 0.104 | 0.165 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 1.30 | 1.57 | XISE | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | VOO | VOO | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.2% a year | −1.2% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.96 | −0.99 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −0.5% to +0.2% | −3.7% to +1.2% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | −0.26 | −1.25 | SPY | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.3% | 11.5% | 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, 160 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, SPY and XISE 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 XISE 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 XISE do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. SPY follows S&P 500 Index and XISE is measured against Vanguard S&P 500 ETF through VOO.
- 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 XISE +6.4% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 7.2 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%.
XISE
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, XISE paid 6.0% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 0.2%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +6.4%. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) returned +13.7% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 7.3 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 6.0%, paid monthly. First Trust estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Sep 21, 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 XISE in the same category?
- SPY is a stock ETF and XISE 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 XISE?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +13.6% and XISE +6.4%.
- Which is cheaper, SPY or XISE?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.76 percentage points a year. That is about $76 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 XISE, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-xise
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