Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
SPY vs XPAY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SPY returned +13.6% to XPAY's +12.8%, and SPY charges 0.09% to XPAY's 0.49%.
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Net assets: $814.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, and $186m on Oct 28, 2026 for Roundhill S&P 500 Target 20 Managed Distribution ETF.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.40 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.8 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $185m.
| Measure | SPY | XPAY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.6% | +12.8% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 12.4% | fell 8.2% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 20.9% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 100% of the Oct 15, 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 0.9 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.09% | 0.49% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $814.8bn | $185m |
| 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
Nov 8, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026 · 102 weekly returns · each against VOOSPY returned slightly more: +30.0% to +28.0%. SPY and XPAY swung about the same: 14.8% and 14.9%. SPY and XPAY fell about the same at their worst: −16.9% and −17.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | SPY | XPAY | VOO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +30.0% | +28.0% | SPY (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +14.3% | +13.4% | SPY (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | +27.0% | −14.2% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 14.8% | 14.9% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 9.9% | 10.0% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −16.9% | −17.1% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 100.3% | 99.7% | 100.0% | Tie | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 100.3% | 101.5% | 100.0% | Tie | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 1.01 | 1.01 | 1.00 | Tie | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.71 | 0.65 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 1.06 | 0.97 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.104 | 0.095 | 0.105 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 0.85 | 0.78 | SPY (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | VOO | VOO | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | −1.0% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.57 | −1.36 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −0.6% to +0.3% | −2.4% to +0.4% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | −0.13 | −0.82 | SPY | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.3% | 1.0% | 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, 102 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, SPY and XPAY 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 XPAY 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 XPAY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. SPY follows S&P 500 Index and XPAY 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 and Oct 28, 2026).
- Cost. SPY charges 0.09% of assets a year and XPAY 0.49%, a gap of 0.40 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%.
XPAY
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, XPAY paid 19.4% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 8.2%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +12.8%. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) returned +13.7% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 0.9 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 20.9%, paid monthly. Roundhill estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Oct 15, 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 XPAY in the same category?
- SPY is a stock ETF and XPAY 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 XPAY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +13.6% and XPAY +12.8%.
- Which is cheaper, SPY or XPAY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.40 percentage points a year. That is about $40 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 XPAY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-xpay
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