IVVW vs SPUT

IVVWAiShares S&P 500 BuyWrite ETF

SPUTCInnovator Equity Premium Income – Daily PutWrite 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.

SPUT Most S&P 500 income ETFs sell calls on stock they own. SPUT flips the trade: an actively run large-cap sleeve paired with puts written on the index every single day, with cash paid out monthly.

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.

SPUT The Fund seeks current income while providing capital appreciation through an actively managed equity portfolio and a daily put-write options strategy.

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.

• SPUT Income comes from writing puts on the S&P 500, not calls on its own shares, so the options engine sits alongside the equity sleeve instead of on top of it.innovatoretfs.com
• Puts are written daily rather than once a month, spreading strike-setting across many entry points instead of one date on the calendar.innovatoretfs.com
• Pays monthly, and the stock side is a broad active portfolio of roughly 500 names rather than a handful of megacaps.

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.

• SPUT The 0.79% fee sits above what most S&P 500 income funds charge: IVVW runs 0.25%, GPIX 0.35%.
• Launched in 2025, still small and thinly traded, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than in the category's heavyweights.
• Innovator discloses that monthly distributions can include return of capital, meaning part of a payout may be your own money coming back.innovatoretfs.com

Full IVVW profile⁠

Full SPUT profile⁠