The Landlord Ledger · Everyday spending and market power
Compare monopoly and economic-moat ETFs, inspect their holdings, and check what a return figure includes. Each comparison keeps its dates, sources and limits visible.
Compare ETF returns$1,000 held without interest, July 2016 to July 2026.
Purchasing power: $721 in July-2016 dollars.
BLS data and calculation
These editorial labels describe familiar businesses and the markets they serve. They are not a ranking, a return forecast, or a finding of unlawful monopoly.
Correction · October 3, 2026: we withdrew the earlier company-return and spending estimates because their supporting inputs were incomplete. Read the correction and methodology.
These ETFs offer different ways to study companies with durable competitive advantages. MPLY actively selects companies with issuer-defined monopolistic attributes, including public SpaceX Class A stock (SPCX). TOLL focuses on durable quality and currently discloses indirect private Kalshi exposure through an SPV. MOAT follows a valuation-disciplined wide-moat index. Former fund CZAR ceased Nasdaq trading on Jul 28, 2026 and liquidated around Jul 31, so it is shown only as a historical record.
PERFORMANCE SNAPSHOT · ACTIVE FUNDS VS AN S&P 500 ETF PROXY
Issuer-published NAV total returns — MPLY as of Jul 31, 2026; MOAT as of Jul 31, 2026; TOLL as of Jul 31, 2026; SPY NAV as of Jul 31, 2026, labelled as an S&P 500 ETF proxy. Trailing 1Y appears only with a complete live Marketstack snapshot. CZAR ceased trading Jul 28, 2026 and is excluded. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.
PERMANENT HEAD-TO-HEAD GUIDES
Each comparison uses the same dated fields, primary-source links, risk questions, and no ranking or recommendation.
MONOPOLY MOAT RESEARCH DESK
Start with a tool and see the method, dates, and sources before downloading a printable result.
DAILY GAME · MONOPOLY MOAT
Money Matrix puts risk and return in the same frame. The daily game and its discussion live in r/MonopolyMOAT on Reddit.
Meet Money MatrixPLAIN-ENGLISH ANSWERS
A concise reference for readers and answer engines. Every factual fund statement below points back to an issuer or regulatory source.
There is no SEC-defined fund category called a “monopoly ETF.” We use the phrase as editorial shorthand for ETFs whose stated strategies target durable competitive advantages, economic moats, or monopoly-like market positions. Each fund defines and selects those businesses differently, so its prospectus—not the label—controls.
As of August 2026, we follow three current US-listed funds in the category: MPLY, MOAT, and TOLL. CZAR ceased Nasdaq trading on July 28, 2026 and subsequently liquidated, so we retain it only as a historical record.
MPLY is actively managed around companies the adviser identifies as having monopolistic or oligopolistic characteristics. MOAT tracks an index of US companies Morningstar assigns wide economic moats and applies a valuation screen. TOLL is actively managed around durable-quality companies with structural competitive advantages. Their holdings, concentration, fees, turnover, trading liquidity, and selection processes differ materially.
Use the same dates, currency and return basis. The daily panel uses a complete, same-date set of Marketstack adjusted closing prices for MPLY, MOAT, TOLL and SPY. YTD starts at the prior year-end close. A one-year comparison is published only when all four funds have usable starting prices on the newest eligible date returned on or before the one-year anniversary. A start up to three calendar days earlier is labelled Approx. 1Y with its actual dates and duration. A larger gap or incomplete starting set is withheld while valid YTD remains available. Snapshots older than five calendar days are not used. Adjusted closes are intended to reflect splits and distributions; results are market-price total-return estimates, not issuer-published NAV total returns. SPY is an ETF proxy, not the S&P 500 index itself. The homepage's initial fixed-date fallback uses separately labelled issuer NAV YTD returns.
The label does not remove ordinary ETF risks. Review concentration and valuation risk, active-manager or index-methodology risk, fees and turnover, bid-ask spreads and premiums or discounts, private-asset valuation where relevant, and the possibility that a small fund closes or liquidates. Read the prospectus before investing.
No. Monopoly MOAT is an independent publication. We are not owned by, operated by, affiliated with, or compensated by the issuers, sponsors, or index providers covered here. No issuer has approved or endorsed these comparisons. See the full disclosures.
PRIMARY SOURCE SPINE
Issuer pages control current fund facts. BLS controls the CPI series. The SEC filing controls the CZAR closure record. Our research standards explain how those inputs become the figures shown above.