Data as of Nov 4, 2026.
FTHI vs SPYI: Dividend Yield & Total Return
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, SPYI paid 12.1% of its price in cash against FTHI’s 8.9%, and returned more with it reinvested.
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Net assets: $2.5bn on Nov 3, 2026 for First Trust BuyWrite Income ETF, and $12.7bn on Oct 28, 2026 for NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF.
6.7 pts behind SPY
FTHI over 1 year: paid 8.9%, price −1.2%, total +8.1%, SPY +14.8%, −6.7 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
SPY
+14.8%
FTHI
+8.1%
8.9% of it arrived as cash
6.7 pts behind SPY
Total return, distributions reinvested
6.7 pts behind SPY
FTHI over 1 year: paid 8.9%, price −1.2%, total +8.1%, SPY +14.8%, −6.7 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
SPY
+14.8%
FTHI
+8.1%
8.9% cash
6.7 pts behind SPY
8.9% of it arrived as cash. Total return, distributions reinvested. FTHI over 1 year: paid 8.9%, price −1.2%, total +8.1%, SPY +14.8%, −6.7 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
Data to Nov 4, 2026.0.8 pts behind SPY
SPYI over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price +1.1%, total +14.0%, SPY +14.8%, −0.8 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
SPY
+14.8%
SPYI
+14.0%
12.1% of it arrived as cash
0.8 pts behind SPY
Total return, distributions reinvested
0.8 pts behind SPY
SPYI over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price +1.1%, total +14.0%, SPY +14.8%, −0.8 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
SPY
+14.8%
SPYI
+14.0%
12.1% as cash
0.8 pts behind SPY
12.1% of it arrived as cash. Both charts share one scale, with zero at the line. SPYI over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price +1.1%, total +14.0%, SPY +14.8%, −0.8 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
Data to Nov 4, 2026.Pair scorecard
SPYI costs 0.07 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.9 points; SPYI is 4.9 times larger.
Points (pts) are percentage points.
| Measure | FTHI | SPYI |
|---|---|---|
| Paid and earned | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +8.1% | +14.0% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 1.2% | rose 1.1% |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 92% of the Oct 30, 2026 payment | 99% of the Oct 23, 2026 payment |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| Benchmark | S&P 500, measured through SPY | S&P 500, measured through SPY |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.75% | 0.68% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 28, 2026 | $2.6bn | $12.7bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 50% | |
How much of its payouts the fund's total return covered, ranked against 167 income ETFs not writing on a single company. 100 is best. How it is computed
One year only, and a ratio of two published numbers: it says nothing about where a distribution came from. All income ETFs ranked by it →
Risk and return
Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 30, 2026 · 216 weekly returns · each against SPYFrom Sep 2022 to Oct 2026, SPYI returned more: +73.6% to +64.3%. FTHI swung less: 10.6% to 11.8%. FTHI fell slightly less at its worst: −14.4% to −14.8%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | FTHI | SPYI | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +64.3% | +73.6% | SPYI | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +12.7% | +14.2% | SPYI | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | +13.6% | +5.0% | FTHI | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 10.6% | 11.8% | FTHI | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 7.4% | 8.1% | FTHI (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −14.4% | −14.8% | FTHI (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 54.9% | 68.0% | 100.0% | SPYI | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 69.5% | 80.5% | 100.0% | FTHI | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 0.67 | 0.78 | 1.00 | FTHI lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.87 | 0.96 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.75 | 0.80 | SPYI (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 1.08 | 1.17 | SPYI (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.120 | 0.121 | 0.128 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 0.88 | 0.96 | SPYI (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | SPY | SPY | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.6% a year | −0.6% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.31 | −0.52 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −4.3% to +3.1% | −2.8% to +1.6% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | −0.78 | −0.86 | FTHI (slight) | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 6.2% | 4.0% | 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, 216 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, FTHI and SPYI hold 50% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Nov 3, 2026.
half
50% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
As of Nov 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Cash paid: distributions over the window, as a share of the starting price. Payout rate: the latest payment, annualized, over today’s price.
Window by window
| Total return | Cash paid | Against the benchmark | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window | FTHI | SPYI | FTHI | SPYI | FTHI | SPYI |
| 3 months | −0.5% | +1.1% | 2.2% | 2.9% | −0.3 pts | +1.3 pts |
| 6 months | +2.5% | +5.8% | 4.4% | 6.0% | −2.5 pts | +0.7 pts |
| 1 year | +8.1% | +14.0% | 8.9% | 12.1% | −6.7 pts | −0.8 pts |
| 3 years | +48.1% | +62.0% | 29.7% | 39.3% | −34.8 pts | −20.9 pts |
| Since launchNot the same days: FTHI Jan 2014 · SPYI Aug 2022 | +155.0% | +78.5% | 84.3% | 51.3% | −262.6 pts | −25.2 pts |
Client brief:
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FTHI
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, FTHI paid 8.9% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 1.2%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +8.1%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +14.8% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 6.7 pts. At its price on Nov 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 9.0%, paid monthly. First Trust estimates that 92% of the distribution paid Oct 30, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
SPYI
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, SPYI paid 12.1% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 1.1%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +14.0%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +14.8% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 0.8 pts. At its price on Nov 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 11.5%, paid monthly. NEOS estimates that 99% of the distribution paid Oct 23, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice).
Questions people ask
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
It is a place in a set, not a rating or a recommendation.
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
Every number is an ETFIQ calculation with distributions reinvested.
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ETFIQ, FTHI against SPYI, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/fthi-vs-spyi
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). FTHI against SPYI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/income/fthi-vs-spyi
[FTHI against SPYI (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/income/fthi-vs-spyi)
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