IVV vs XDIV

IVVAiShares Core S&P 500 ETF

XDIVCRoundhill S&P 500 No Dividend Target ETF

In short

IVV The 2000-vintage iShares take on the S&P 500, now a $100B-plus cornerstone holding: roughly 500 large US companies, 0.03% a year, and tracking that stays tight to the index.

XDIV An S&P 500 fund designed to pay you nothing. It holds the big index ETFs and sells each before its ex-dividend date, chasing the index's total return with no cash distributions.

Stated mandate

IVV The fund seeks to track the investment results of an index made up of large-capitalization U.S. equities.

XDIV The fund seeks to deliver the S&P 500 Index’s total return before fees and expenses while avoiding dividend or other distribution payments.

Why people hold it

• IVV Costs 0.03% a year, a fraction of the typical fee among S&P 500 trackers, and undercuts the category's founding fund (SPY, 0.09%) on the same index.
• Tracking is the whole job, and it does it about as tightly as this peer group gets: roughly 500 large US companies, no manager discretion bolted on.
• A $100B-plus fund that trades heavily all session, which is what keeps bid-ask spreads thin for retail-sized orders and institutional blocks alike.
• Running since 2000 as a registered open-end fund, with quarterly distributions and one of the longest live records in the S&P 500 aisle.ishares.com

• XDIV Targets the S&P 500's total return before fees while aiming to pay no dividends or distributions, so gains ride in the share price instead of landing as income.roundhillinvestments.com
• No swaps or options. It just owns big S&P 500 trackers like IVV, VOO and SPY, stepping out of each one before its ex-dividend date.roundhillinvestments.com
• Costs 0.08% net of a waiver through May 1, 2027 (0.20% gross), near the category median and above core trackers IVV and VOO at 0.03%.

Worth knowing

• IVV Pure US large cap. No mid caps, no small caps, nothing overseas, so it works as one slab of a portfolio rather than the whole thing.
• It rides the index in both directions: when the S&P 500 has an ugly year, this has the same ugly year, minus the fee.
• A near-identical rival shaves a basis point (SPYM at 0.02%). On $10,000 that gap is about a dollar a year, so structure and trading habits matter more.

• XDIV The prospectus is blunt: no guarantee it matches the index's total return or avoids every distribution. Rotating around ex-dividend dates can open tracking gaps.roundhillinvestments.com
• Filings flag ex-dividend tax risk: if the IRS deems the fund owed dividend income it skipped, it may owe a deficiency dividend plus interest to keep its fund tax status.roundhillinvestments.com
• Launched in 2025 and still small, it trades less actively than the giant core S&P 500 ETFs, which usually means wider spreads.

Full IVV profile⁠

Full XDIV profile⁠