Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
SPY vs XYLD: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SPY returned +13.6% to XYLD's +15.8%, and SPY charges 0.09% to XYLD's 0.60%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about SPY and XYLD
Net assets: $814.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, and $3.4bn on Oct 12, 2026 for Global X S&P 500 Covered Call ETF.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.51 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.2 points; SPY is far larger, $821.1bn against $3.4bn.
| Measure | SPY | XYLD |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.6% | +15.8% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 12.4% | rose 4.3% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 9.1% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 93% of the Sep 24, 2026 payment | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Index | Benchmark: S&P 500, measured through SPY |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.09% | 0.60% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 12, 2026 | $821.1bn | $3.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 95% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 38.1% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Jul 5, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026 · 694 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; XYLD against SPY, Jul 5, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned more: +483.3% to +188.0%. XYLD swung less: 11.9% to 16.0%. SPY fell slightly less at its worst: −31.8% to −32.6%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | SPY | XYLD | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +483.3% | +188.0% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +14.1% | +8.2% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +366.2% | +2.2% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 16.0% | 11.9% | XYLD | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.1% | 9.2% | XYLD | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −31.8% | −32.6% | SPY (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.8% | 51.3% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 70.9% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.66 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.78 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.79 | 0.57 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.14 | 0.73 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.133 | 0.103 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.44 | 0.25 | 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 | −1.5% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.51 | −1.00 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.3% to +0.1% | −4.5% to +1.5% | 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% | 7.8% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 694 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, SPY and XYLD hold 95% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
95% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
SPY and XYLD 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 XYLD do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. SPY follows S&P 500 Index and XYLD is measured against S&P 500 through SPY.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 SPY returned +13.6% and XYLD +15.8% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.2 points.
- Cost. SPY charges 0.09% of assets a year and XYLD 0.60%, a gap of 0.51 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
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%.
XYLD
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, XYLD paid 10.6% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 4.3%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +15.8%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +13.6% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 2.2 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 9.1%, paid monthly. Global X estimates that 93% of the distribution paid Sep 24, 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 XYLD in the same category?
- SPY is a stock ETF and XYLD 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 XYLD?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +13.6% and XYLD +15.8%.
- Which is cheaper, SPY or XYLD?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.51 percentage points a year. That is about $51 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.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, SPY against XYLD, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-xyld
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). SPY against XYLD. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-xyld
[SPY against XYLD (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-xyld)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.