Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
VOO vs XYLD: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, VOO returned +13.7% to XYLD's +15.8%, and VOO charges 0.03% to XYLD's 0.60%.
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Net assets: $1.0tn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, and $3.4bn on Oct 12, 2026 for Global X S&P 500 Covered Call ETF.
Pair scorecard
VOO costs 0.57 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.1 points.
| Measure | VOO | XYLD |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.7% | +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 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Index | Benchmark: S&P 500, measured through SPY |
| Against its benchmark, same days | ahead by 2.2 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.60% |
| Net assets, VOO as of Sep 30, 2026 and XYLD as of Oct 12, 2026 | $1.0tn | $3.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 95% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 39.1% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Jul 5, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026 · 694 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: VOO against IVV, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; XYLD against SPY, Jul 5, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
VOO returned more: +487.7% to +188.0%. XYLD swung less: 11.9% to 16.0%. VOO fell slightly less at its worst: −31.8% to −32.6%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | VOO | XYLD | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +487.7% | +188.0% | VOO | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +14.2% | +8.2% | VOO | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +367.8% | +2.2% | VOO | 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% | VOO (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 | 99.9% | 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 | VOO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.14 | 0.73 | VOO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.134 | 0.103 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.45 | 0.25 | VOO | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IVV | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | 0.0% 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 | −0.1% to +0.2% | −4.5% to +1.5% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.02 | −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, VOO and XYLD hold 95% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026.
half
95% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
VOO 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.
VOO and XYLD do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. VOO 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 VOO returned +13.7% and XYLD +15.8% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.1 points.
- Cost. VOO charges 0.03% of assets a year and XYLD 0.60%, a gap of 0.57 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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VOO
VOO tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.7% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 507 positions, with the top ten at 39.1%.
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 VOO and XYLD in the same category?
- VOO 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, VOO or XYLD?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, VOO returned +13.7% and XYLD +15.8%.
- Which is cheaper, VOO or XYLD?
- VOO is cheaper, by 0.57 percentage points a year. That is about $57 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, VOO against XYLD, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/voo-vs-xyld
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). VOO against XYLD. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/voo-vs-xyld
[VOO against XYLD (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/voo-vs-xyld)
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