SPYI vs VYM: Performance, Holdings, Fees & Risk
SPYI and VYM are ETFs, but they can differ materially in exposure, yield, fees and risk. SPYI is Neos S&P 500(R) High Income ETF, while VYM is Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF. SPYI is more concentrated at the top, based on top-10 holdings weight. Current AlgovestIQ evidence has VYM ahead on AIQ Score, 67 versus 49.
What is the main difference between SPYI and VYM?
SPYI and VYM have little in common: 34% of their weight is in the same securities.
| Metric | SPYI | VYM |
|---|---|---|
| Fund | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.68% | 0.04% |
| Holdings | 508 | 613 |
| Top-10 concentration | 38% | 26.2% |
| Distribution yieldTrailing 12 months | 12.01% | 2.28% |
| Average volume | 2,696,728 | 1,209,618 |
| Performance | ||
| 1Y return | +0.2% | +14.6% |
| YTD return | +0.2% | +12.5% |
| Risk | ||
| Annualized volatility | 11.1% | 10.1% |
| Max drawdown (1Y) | -10.1% | -7.2% |
| Beta | 0.81 | 0.55 |
| Sharpe ratio | -0.19 | 1.04 |
| Sortino ratio | -0.26 | 1.68 |
| AlgovestIQ | ||
| AIQ Score | 49/100 | 67/100 |
| AIQ Edge Score | 4/10 | 10/10 |
| Momentum | 25/100 | 80/100 |
| Risk Resilience | 80/100 | 80/100 |
AlgovestIQ AIQ Comparison
Neos S&P 500(R) High Income ETF vs Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
VYM leads
VYM leads by 18 AIQ points, primarily on Momentum and Value, having only recently taken the lead back from SPYI.
Fragile: 3 of 4 evidence groups support VYM, the lead recently changed hands, and its current signal state is conflicted.
Neos S&P 500(R) High Income ETF
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
The Algovestiq AIQ Score currently favors VYM over SPYI, 67 versus 49 as of Oct 24, 2026. VYM's advantage is driven primarily by stronger momentum and value. VYM also shows the stronger technical structure relative to its 50-day moving average. 3 of 4 covered evidence groups favor VYM today, and the comparison is rated Fragile on stability: the lead has already changed hands inside the comparison window. VYM lead: Reversed — SPYI led by 4 AIQ points 30 sessions ago; VYM now leads by 18.
Compare Neos S&P 500(R) High Income ETF and Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF across performance, expense ratio, dividend yield, drawdown, volatility and the Algovestiq AIQ Score.
SPYI vs VYM: which fits what
Each row is settled by a single measure. Where the gap is too small to matter it reads Similar, and no row decides the comparison as a whole.
| If you want | SPYI | VYM | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower costExpense ratio | 0.68% | 0.04% | VYM |
| Broader diversificationNumber of holdings | 508 | 613 | Similar |
| Lower concentrationWeight of the 10 largest holdings | 38% | 26.2% | VYM |
| Higher incomeTrailing 12-month distribution yield | 12.01% | 2.28% | SPYI |
| Smaller drawdownsMax drawdown, 1 year | -10.1% | -7.2% | VYM |
| Lower volatilityAnnualized volatility, 1 year | 11.1% | 10.1% | Similar |
Similar means the gap is within 0.01 percentage points of expense ratio, 25% more holdings, 3 points of top-10 weight, 0.2 points of yield, 2 points of drawdown or 1 point of volatility. Past drawdowns and volatility describe the funds’ history, not their future.
Performance over time
Total return with distributions reinvested, from daily closes for both ETFs.
Total return comparison
Growth of $10,000, distributions reinvested
Split-adjusted closes; each distribution is reinvested at the close on its ex-dividend date. Taxes and trading costs are not modeled.
Compare SPYI and VYM against another ticker
Open a multi-ticker workspace without changing this focused pair page.
AIQ Factor Divergence
Where the two separate, on the four dimensions behind the AIQ Score. Bars read outward from a shared zero: further from the centre is a wider gap.
- Momentum25 vs 80VYM +55
- Value41 vs 51VYM +10
- Quality62 vs 65Even
- Risk Resilience80 vs 80Even
3 of 4 evidence groups favor VYM. VYM’s edge is concentrated in momentum and value.
What changed since the last close
Latest scored session 2026-10-23, compared against the prior scored session 2026-10-22.
Largest factor move: Momentum -14
New signals
- Keltner Channel Breakdown — bearish, volatility, short horizon
Largest factor move: Momentum -1, not enough on its own to move the overall score.
No signal started or stopped since the prior session; its 7 active signals are unchanged.
VYM's lead widened by 3 AIQ points in the latest session.
Deeper signal detail for each name lives on its own signals page — SPYI and VYM both carry a full feed there.
Fund facts, side by side
Two funds tracking overlapping universes are separated by cost and risk far more than by holdings. Those lead here.
| Measure | SPYI | VYM | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expense ratio | 0.68% | 0.04% | Lower is better — it compounds against you every year you hold. |
| Holdings | 508 | 613 | More holdings means broader diversification, not better returns. |
| Average volume | 2,696,728 | 1,209,618 | Liquidity — matters most if you trade size. |
| Annualized volatility | 11.1% | 10.1% | Lower is a steadier ride for the same exposure. |
| Max drawdown (1Y) | -10.1% | -7.2% | The worst peak-to-trough loss over the past year. |
| Sharpe ratio | -0.19 | 1.04 | Return per unit of risk. Higher is better. |
| Beta | 0.81 | 0.55 | Sensitivity to the broad market. Neither direction is better — it depends on the role in your portfolio. |
Where the exposure actually sits
Sector exposure for each fund, ordered by the size of the difference.
How much of the same holdings they own
SPYI and VYM share 34.26% of their weighted exposure across 257 common holdings.
250 holdings are unique to SPYI, and 347 holdings are unique to VYM. Owning both is genuinely additive — most of the capital sits in different securities.
SPYI is the more concentrated of the two: its ten largest positions are 37.98% of the fund, against 26.16% for VYM (508 holdings vs 613). Concentration cuts both ways — it is what drives outperformance when the top names work, and what makes the drawdown deeper when they do not.
Largest shared positions
| Holding | SPYI | VYM | Shared |
|---|---|---|---|
| AVGOBroadcom Inc | 2.6% | 7.36% | 2.6% |
| JPMJPMorgan Chase & Co | 1.42% | 3.82% | 1.42% |
| XOMExxonMobil Holdings Corp | 1.03% | 2.63% | 1.03% |
| JNJJohnson & Johnson | 0.96% | 2.51% | 0.96% |
| ABBVAbbVie Inc | 0.68% | 1.8% | 0.68% |
| CSCOCisco Systems Inc | 0.68% | 1.86% | 0.68% |
| BACBank of America Corp | 0.62% | 1.67% | 0.62% |
| CVXChevron Corp | 0.6% | 1.48% | 0.6% |
Shared weight is the lower of the two positions — the portion of capital both funds genuinely have in the same security.
What SPYI adds that VYM doesn’t
| Holding | SPYI | VYM |
|---|---|---|
| NVDANVIDIA Corp | 8.02% | Not held |
| AAPLApple Inc | 7.27% | Not held |
| MSFTMicrosoft Corp | 5.57% | Not held |
| AMZNAmazon.com Inc | 3.81% | Not held |
| GOOGLAlphabet Inc | 2.96% | Not held |
| GOOGAlphabet Inc | 2.41% | Not held |
What VYM adds that SPYI doesn’t
| Holding | VYM | SPYI |
|---|---|---|
| AVGOBroadcom Inc | 7.36% | 2.6% |
| JPMJPMorgan Chase & Co | 3.82% | 1.42% |
| XOMExxonMobil Holdings Corp | 2.63% | 1.03% |
| JNJJohnson & Johnson | 2.51% | 0.96% |
| CSCOCisco Systems Inc | 1.86% | 0.68% |
| ABBVAbbVie Inc | 1.8% | 0.68% |
Each list is a fund’s largest positions by weight that the other fund does not hold, or holds at less than half the weight.
SPYI vs VYM: five-year payout growth
VYM grew its split-adjusted payout at 3.79% a year over 2020-2025. SPYI began paying distributions in 2022, so it has no 2020-2025 growth rate to compare.
| Dividend metric | SPYI | VYM |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 annual payout | $6.146 | $3.501 |
| Peer rank | not ranked | #21 of 33 |
Split-adjusted annual distributions, 2020–2025. Research as of Sep 19, 2026. Yield and expense ratio above are current values, not part of this window.
AIQ Agreement Matrix
3 of 4 covered evidence groups favor VYM. A wide gap backed by one group is a weaker case than a narrow gap backed by five.
| Evidence group | Favors | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| AIQ Score | VYM | 49 vs 67 |
| Fundamentals | Not covered | Not covered |
| Valuation | VYM | Value 41 vs 51 |
| Technicals | VYM | Price vs 50-day -1.7% vs 0.3%; vs 200-day -0.1% vs 3% |
| Risk Resilience | Even | Risk Resilience 80 vs 80 |
| Analyst expectations | Not covered | Not covered |
✓ agrees with the overall verdict · ✕ points the other way. Groups marked “not covered” lack data on one or both of SPYI and VYM and are excluded from the count.
AIQ Decision Stability
The conclusion is sensitive to small changes. Treat the lead as provisional and watch the flip conditions below.
- The AIQ gap is wide at 18 points. (supports the conclusion holding)
- The lead has already changed hands inside the comparison window. (argues the conclusion is provisional)
- The lead has swung materially session to session. (argues the conclusion is provisional)
- The leader is throwing conflicting signals. (argues the conclusion is provisional)
Stability combines the score gap, how broadly the evidence agrees, how steady the lead has been across daily snapshots, the current signal state on both names, and analyst dispersion on VYM.
How the comparison changed
48 daily snapshots · Sep 6 – Oct 23VYM lead: Reversed — SPYI led by 4 AIQ points 30 sessions ago; VYM now leads by 18.
- Today
- VYM +18
- 49 vs 67
- 7 sessions ago
- VYM +3
- 59 vs 62
- 30 sessions ago
- SPYI +4
- 58 vs 54
- 90 sessions ago
- Not covered
The lead changed hands 6 times in this window, most recently on Oct 14 when VYM moved ahead of SPYI.
AIQ Signal Divergence
Only the signals that bear on the head-to-head. A conflicted name is carrying bullish and bearish rules at the same time — the technical evidence is not pointing one way.
3 bullish / 2 bearish / 2 neutral, conflicted
Only SPYI
- Bollinger Band Squeeze — neutral, volatility, short horizon
- BB Lower Band Breach — bullish, volatility, short horizon
- Keltner Channel Breakdown — bearish, volatility, short horizon
- 52-Week High Proximity — bullish, risk, long horizon (2.9%)
- MACD Bearish Crossover — bearish, momentum, short horizon
5 bullish / 1 bearish / 1 neutral, conflicted
Only VYM
- Keltner Channel Breakout — bullish, volatility, short horizon
- RSI Overbought — bearish, momentum, short horizon
- EMA Ribbon Expansion Bullish — bullish, trend, medium horizon
- Uptrend Structure Active — bullish, trend, long horizon
- MACD Bullish Crossover — bullish, momentum, short horizon
Both carry 2 more signals that do not separate them: Golden Cross Active, ATR Contraction - Coiling.
VYM leads the comparison while carrying a conflicted signal state, which is one reason the stability rating is not higher.
Price vs model alignment
Whether the latest session's price move confirms what the model did over the same session, or contradicts it.
Price and the AIQ Score both moved down over the latest session (price -0.44%, AIQ -3 points).
Neither the price nor the AIQ Score moved enough in the latest session to confirm or contradict the other (price -0.68%, AIQ 0 points).
What would flip this result
A state, not a forecast. These are the specific, observable changes that would reverse the verdict — not a price prediction.
- 1SPYI closes the Momentum gap — currently 55 points behind, the largest single contributor to VYM's edge.
- 2SPYI's Bollinger Band Squeeze turns directional — it is neutral today and would confirm a change in trend.
- 3VYM's conflicting signal state resolves bearish — it currently carries 5 bullish and 1 bearish rules at once.
- 4A regime shift changes factor weighting — Quality and Value carry the heaviest weights in the composite, so a rotation toward either would move the result most.
The full evidence
Every number behind the verdict. The leader is called above each group so you are not left to solve it from the table.
Performance
VYM leads 5 of 6 windows| Metric | SPYI | VYM |
|---|---|---|
| 1 week (5 sessions) | -1.3% | 0.8% |
| 1 month (20 sessions) | -1.9% | 2.4% |
| 3 months (63 sessions) | 0.6% | -0.8% |
| 6 months (126 sessions) | 0.8% | 4.2% |
| Year to date | 0.2% | 12.5% |
| 1 year (252 sessions) | 0.2% | 14.6% |
Technicals
VYM has the stronger structure| Metric | SPYI | VYM |
|---|---|---|
| RSI (14) | 30.5 | 71.3 |
| ADX (14) | 19.8 | 24.2 |
| Price vs 50-day | -1.7% | 0.3% |
| Price vs 200-day | -0.1% | 3% |
| Volatility (1M, annualized) | 7.7% | 8.7% |
Risk
Split| Metric | SPYI | VYM |
|---|---|---|
| Beta | 0.81 | 0.55 |
| Sharpe ratio | -0.19 | 1.04 |
| Sortino ratio | -0.26 | 1.68 |
| Max drawdown | -10.1% | -7.2% |
| Current drawdown | -3.3% | -3.3% |
| Annualized volatility | 11.1% | 10.1% |
| Value at risk (95%) | -1.3% | -1% |
Straight answers
Short answers to the questions fund investors ask about this pair, from the figures above.
What is the difference between SPYI and VYM?
SPYI and VYM have little in common: 34% of their weight is in the same securities.
How much do SPYI and VYM overlap?
SPYI and VYM share 34.26% of their weighted exposure across 257 common holdings. 250 holdings are unique to SPYI, and 347 holdings are unique to VYM. Owning both is genuinely additive — most of the capital sits in different securities.
Which ETF is more diversified, SPYI or VYM?
They hold a similar number of positions: 508 for SPYI and 613 for VYM.
Which has the lower expense ratio?
VYM has the lower expense ratio, 0.04% a year against 0.68% for SPYI.
Which ETF has the higher distribution yield?
SPYI, with a trailing 12-month distribution yield of 12.01% against 2.28% for VYM.
Which ETF has been more volatile?
Their volatility over the past year is similar: 11.1% annualized for SPYI and 10.1% for VYM.
Which ETF has had the smaller drawdown?
VYM fell less from peak to trough over the past year: -7.2% against -10.1% for SPYI.
Compare SPYI and VYM with others
Continue your research
This page answers which of the two. These answer the questions on either side of it.
How this comparison is scored
The Algovestiq AIQ Score composites four factors — Quality, Value, Momentum and Risk, each carrying a fixed weight. Sentiment is reported separately as SentimentPulse and is not folded into the composite. Scores refresh every trading day, and this page regenerates from the latest snapshot rather than being written once.
The verdict names a leader, states how broadly six independent evidence groups agree, and rates how durable that conclusion is given the score gap, its recent trajectory and the current signal state on both names.
How to use side-by-side comparison →This comparison is informational and educational, not investment advice. AIQ scores update daily; re-check after earnings, guidance or macro data that materially changes either name’s factor profile.