How much do two ETFs overlap?
Fund overlap is the share of two ETFs' weight that sits in the same companies — and it has two values, not one, because a focused fund can sit almost entirely inside a broad one while being a small slice of it.
Among the 100 largest US equity ETFs there are 4,950 possible pairs. 44 of them are more than 90% the same fund and 5 are more than 99% the same. The table below lists the 20 that overlap most.
Updated August 25, 2026
How to read an overlap figure
- Read weight, not names. Two funds can share ninety holdings and almost none of their money.
- Read both directions. A focused fund can sit almost entirely inside a broad one while being a small slice of it — one number hides which is which.
- Read every holding, not the top ten. Most of the shared weight usually sits below the top ten.
Which ETFs overlap the most?
Among the 100 largest US-listed equity ETFs by assets · overlap measured by weight across every holding, not the top ten · each fund appears once.
| Pair | Shared weight | First in second | Second in first |
|---|---|---|---|
| QQQ & QQQM | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| IVW & SPYG | 99.9% | 99.9% | 100% |
| IVE & SPYV | 99.7% | 99.7% | 100% |
| IVV & SPY | 99.7% | 99.7% | 100% |
| ITOT & SCHB | 99.1% | 99.4% | 99.8% |
| IJH & MDY | 98.2% | 99% | 100% |
| IWD & VONV | 97.1% | 99.8% | 99.7% |
| IWF & VONG | 96.6% | 99.8% | 99.9% |
| VOO & VV | 96.5% | 97.6% | 98.5% |
| IWB & SCHX | 96.3% | 96.5% | 99.3% |
Read the last two columns rather than the first: they say which fund contains which. The list moves as holdings files change, so it is dated.
Which ETFs hold least in common?
The same measurement run the other way: large funds whose money is in genuinely different companies. Low overlap is what adding a second fund is supposed to buy you.
Large US-listed equity ETFs with little weight in the same companies · each fund appears once.
| Pair | Shared weight | First in second | Second in first |
|---|---|---|---|
| VTI & VXUS | 1.3% | 5.1% | 5.5% |
| VEA & VOO | 0.8% | 1.8% | 4.6% |
| IEFA & IVV | 0.8% | 1.8% | 3.9% |
| VTV & VUG | 3.3% | 4.1% | 3.4% |
| QQQ & VO | 10.9% | 10.9% | 18.7% |
| SPY & VB | 3.1% | 3.1% | 21.7% |
Low overlap does not mean low risk. Two funds can hold entirely different companies and still fall together in a broad sell-off — what it removes is the duplication, not the market.
What ETF overlap actually measures
Take every company held by both funds. For each fund, add up the weight those shared companies represent. That is the overlap — one number for each fund, expressed as a percentage of that fund's own portfolio. A symmetric figure combines the two and is convenient for ranking, but the pair of directional numbers is what carries the meaning.
QQQ and VTI are the clearest live example: 96.3% of QQQ's weight sits inside VTI, while only 47.7% of VTI is QQQ. One symmetric figure for that pair reads 47.7%, which tells you they share something and hides which one contains the other.
Why the top-10 holdings view understates it
Comparing two funds' top ten is the check most people can actually run, and it is the one most likely to mislead. Two broad funds may share only three or four names in their top ten while sharing the great majority of their total weight, because the overlap sits in the hundreds of positions below.
The reverse error is just as common: a shared-name count treats a 0.02% position exactly like a 7% one. Two funds can share ninety holdings and almost none of their money, if the shared names are small in both.
Three ways the same pair can be described. Count of shared names, share of top-10 weight, and share of total weight will give three different answers for the same two funds. Only the last one describes how much of your money is in the same companies.
What holding two heavily overlapping funds actually does
It is a fact to know rather than a fault. Three things follow mechanically, and none of them is a judgement about either fund:
- The diversification is not there
- Two funds holding the same companies are one exposure held twice. Whatever spreading of risk was intended by holding both did not happen.
- Two expense ratios, one basket
- The shared portion is being charged for twice. On a pair above 99% that is close to the whole position.
- Concentration compounds quietly
- If both funds are top-heavy in the same companies, the combined top-10 weight can be higher than either fund's own — the opposite of what adding a second fund is usually meant to do.
Is there a level of overlap that matters?
There is no published threshold and no standard. What the distribution shows is that the question is usually mis-posed: most pairs of large US ETFs share very little, so a pair sharing most of its weight is unusual rather than typical. Whether that matters depends on the rest of the portfolio, which no overlap tool can see. How to compare two ETFs puts the figure in order with the other comparisons.
What is the difference between overlap and correlation?
Overlap measures shared holdings; correlation measures returns moving together. Two funds with no shared holdings at all can be highly correlated if they hold similar kinds of company, and several tools marketed for overlap in fact offer correlation — a different question, and sometimes the one that was meant. Which overlap tools measure which.
How do I check two specific funds?
Any pair in the universe can be opened directly — the overlap page takes two tickers and returns both directions plus the shared holdings. Every pair is computed in advance rather than on request, which is what makes the table above possible at all.
How this is measured
Each fund's holdings are read from its published holdings file and matched to the other fund's by company, not by ticker line, so dual-listed and multi-class names resolve to one company. Weight held in shared companies is summed for each fund separately; the symmetric figure shown in the "Overlap" column combines the two. The table ranks the 4,950 pairs formed from the 100 largest US-listed equity ETFs by assets, updated daily. Pairs involving funds outside that set are computed too, and are on the overlap page.
ETF Copilot reports data factually. Nothing on this page is investment advice, a recommendation, or a forecast of returns. It describes how to read fund data, not what to do with it. Third-party capabilities were checked on each provider's own site on 24 August 2026.