IVVW vs KSPY

IVVWAiShares S&P 500 BuyWrite ETF

KSPYCKraneShares Hedgeye Hedged Equity Index ETF

In short

IVVW BlackRock's version of the covered call: hold the whole S&P 500 through the iShares Core fund, sell one-month index calls struck 1% out of the money, pay the premium out monthly. All for a quarter-point fee.

KSPY Most hedged equity funds pick one options overlay and live with it. KSPY follows a Hedgeye index that can swap between three different options strategies as often as daily, based on where the S&P 500 sits inside Hedgeye's Risk Range bands.

Stated mandate

IVVW The fund seeks to track an index strategy that holds the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF and sells one-month call options primarily on the S&P 500 Index to generate income. The short option position is intended to be offset by the fund’s long position in the underlying ETF.

KSPY The fund tracks the Hedgeye Hedged Equity Index to provide S&P 500 exposure while actively seeking to reduce volatility and manage downside risk.

Why people hold it

• IVVW Costs 0.25% a year against a category median near 0.60%. On an income strategy, that is less of the option premium quietly leaking out the door.
• The calls sit 1% out of the money, so a slice of each month's rally still belongs to shareholders before the cap bites. At-the-money writers give that up.cboe.com
• Rules over hunches: it tracks a Cboe index that pairs a long position in the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF with a short monthly S&P 500 call, rolled on a set schedule.cboe.com
• Inside a crowded covered-call field where fat fees are the norm, this is one of the tighter builds in its peer group.

• KSPY The index rotates among three options strategies depending on where the S&P 500 trades inside Hedgeye's Risk Range bands, and it can switch as often as daily.kraneshares.com
• It buys puts as well as selling calls, so the downside hedge is an actual options position rather than just collected premium.kraneshares.com
• No 12-month outcome period here: unlike buffer ETFs, there is no fixed cap to sit under for a year and no reset date to time your entry around.kraneshares.com
• Hedgeye has published its Risk Range signals since 2015. This packages that research as a rules-based index inside an ETF instead of a subscription you trade yourself.kraneshares.com

Worth knowing

• IVVW Covered calls trade upside for income. Above the strike, the month's gain is capped, and the premium cushions losses rather than blocking them.cboe.com
• Monthly payouts come from option premium, so they move with volatility instead of arriving as a fixed amount.
• Launched in 2024 and moderately traded, so the live record is short and spreads can run wider than the category's biggest names.

• KSPY At 0.88% a year, it prices above the typical S&P 500 options-strategy fund: the cost of an outside research firm's signals plus an active options overlay.
• Sold calls mean giving up some upside, and hedges cost money in calm, steadily rising markets. This is a volatility-smoothing tool, not an S&P 500 clone.kraneshares.com
• Launched in 2024 and among the smaller, thinly traded funds in its group, so spreads can run wider than at the mega-scale S&P options ETFs.

Full IVVW profile⁠

Full KSPY profile⁠