IVVW vs XSPI

IVVWAiShares S&P 500 BuyWrite ETF

XSPICNEOS Boosted S&P 500 High Income 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.

XSPI The leveraged cousin in the NEOS income lineup: S&P 500 stocks plus a laddered call overlay, boosted with synthetic long exposure to roughly 150% notional, in pursuit of a 15% annualized distribution paid 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.

XSPI The Fund seeks high monthly income in a tax-efficient manner, with potential for enhanced equity appreciation in rising markets.

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.

• XSPI The boost is mechanical: buy index calls and sell index puts at similar strikes to reach about 150% notional exposure, then write additional SPX calls on top. More premium collected, more equity exposure working.neosfunds.comsec.gov
• Calls are laddered out of the money and not written across the whole portfolio, so part of a rally stays open rather than being capped away.neosfunds.com
• Built on the same S&P 500 options framework as NEOS's flagship SPYI, using index options and distributions the issuer has classified as return of capital, which defers tax and trims cost basis instead of hitting as ordinary income.neosfunds.com
• Income is designed to arrive monthly rather than quarterly, from an actively managed overlay on the 500 largest US listed companies.

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.

• XSPI Fees run high: 0.98% versus a roughly 0.6% median for S&P 500 options-income funds, and above the unleveraged sibling SPYI at 0.68%. The boost and the overlay cost real money.
• Leverage cuts both ways. Roughly 150% notional exposure magnifies drawdowns as well as gains, and the call overlay can mute part of the bounce back.neosfunds.comsec.gov
• Launched in February 2026, so the track record is thin, and a payout funded partly by return of capital reduces both net asset value and your cost basis over time.neosfunds.com

Full IVVW profile⁠

Full XSPI profile⁠