Compare/Updated Oct 26, 2026, refreshed every trading day
SPYD vs SCHD
State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF against Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF: 4 years of returns, risk and today’s technical read, from Kavout’s own data.
SCHD did better over the period: $1,000 invested on October 28, 2022 grew to $1,649, versus $1,485 for SPYD—a 64.9% versus 48.5% total return. SCHD also led across every listed recent period, including one year (35.2% versus 16.0%), three years (67.2% versus 60.3%), and YTD (31.8% versus 16.1%). The advantage matters because SCHD delivered higher returns with slightly lower 12-month volatility (11.3% versus 12.2%) and a less severe worst drawdown (-16.1% versus -20.7%). SPYD’s main advantages are its marginally lower expense ratio (0.07% versus 0.06% for SCHD, so SCHD is actually lower by 0.01 percentage point) and a lower share price, neither of which offset its weaker performance. The funds remained highly correlated, at 0.908 over the comparison period and 0.862 over the last 12 months.
- Price is above its 200-day average ($46); 50-day at $48.
- RSI 66, neutral. Supertrend says buy. ADX 34, so the trend is strong.
- Price is above its 200-day average ($32); 50-day at $34.
- RSI 73, overbought. Supertrend says buy. ADX 33, so the trend is strong.
Head to head
Which has returned more, SPYD or SCHD?
SPYD beat SCHD in 21 of the last 48 months; SCHD won the other 27. The typical monthly gap was 1.17 points.
Total return by period
Which is riskier?
SPYD: Feb 2, 2023 to Oct 27, 2023; SCHD: Nov 29, 2024 to Apr 8, 2025
- 0.908
- correlation of daily moves, 4 years
- 1.02
- SPYD move per 1% in SCHD
- 0.862
- correlation, last 12 months
Month by month
Of the last 48 months. The typical gap was 1.17 points.
When did they diverge?
| Month | SPYD | SCHD | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | +6.4% | +2.1% | +4.32 pts |
| January 2026 | +4.7% | +8.7% | -4.02 pts |
| August 2026 | +0.3% | +4.3% | -4.00 pts |
| May 2023 | -8.0% | -4.1% | -3.88 pts |
Where the numbers come from. 1000 daily adjusted closes per fund from the Kavout market-data API, dividends included. Signals and indicators are Kavout’s own, refreshed nightly. Every figure is calculated from those adjusted closes.
Holdings and fees
What do you actually own with SPYD and SCHD?
- Expense ratio
- 0.07%
- Fund assets
- $8B
- Price
- $48.59
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