The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) tracks the S&P 500 Index and is one of the most actively traded ETFs in the world. SPY is often used by institutions and active investors for broad U.S. large-cap exposure, liquidity, hedging, and tactical allocation.
Key Facts
Field
Value
Ticker
SPY
Issuer
State Street Global Advisors / SPDR
Inception Date
January 22, 1993
Expense Ratio
0.0945%
Benchmark
S&P 500 Index
Asset Class
U.S. Large-Cap Equity
Dividend Frequency
Quarterly
Structure
Unit Investment Trust
Primary Use Case
Highly liquid S&P 500 exposure and trading vehicle
Latest Price Data
Data fetched via scripts/fetch_spy_etf.py on 2026-07-06; latest market row from Yahoo Finance is 2026-07-02.
Field
Value
Last Adjusted Close
$744.78
52-Week High
$757.62
52-Week Low
$613.54
YTD Return
+9.60%
30-Day Avg Volume
~57.7M shares/day
Data As Of
2026-07-02
Exchange Timezone
America/New_York
Historical Annual Returns
Year
Return (%)
2026
+9.80%
2025
+17.72%
2024
+24.89%
2023
+26.18%
2022
-18.18%
2021
+28.73%
2020
+18.33%
2019
+31.22%
2018
-4.57%
2017
+21.71%
2016
+12.00%
2015
+1.23%
2014
+13.46%
2013
+32.31%
2012
+15.99%
Trailing Period Returns (CAGR)
Period
Annualised Return
1 Year
+21.38%
3 Year
+20.34%
5 Year
+12.94%
10 Year
+15.43%
Since Inception (1993)
+10.81%
Risk Metrics
Metric
Value
Beta (vs. S&P 500)
~1.00
Expected Return (5-Year, Annualised)
+14.99%
Standard Deviation (5-Year, Annualised)
~17.1%
Sharpe Ratio (5-Year, rf=4.5%)
~0.61
Max Drawdown (available history)
-55.2% (Mar 2009)
Correlation to VOO
Very high; both track the S&P 500 Index
Price History (Recent 12 Months)
Month
Adjusted Close (USD)
Monthly Return
Aug 2025
$637.98
+2.05%
Sep 2025
$660.71
+3.56%
Oct 2025
$676.46
+2.38%
Nov 2025
$677.77
+0.20%
Dec 2025
$678.32
+0.08%
Jan 2026
$688.31
+1.47%
Feb 2026
$682.36
-0.86%
Mar 2026
$648.67
-4.94%
Apr 2026
$716.81
+10.51%
May 2026
$754.54
+5.26%
Jun 2026
$746.77
-1.03%
Jul 2026
$744.78
-0.27%
Investment Thesis
Strengths
Exceptional liquidity: SPY typically trades with very tight spreads and deep options markets.
Transparent exposure: Investors get direct S&P 500 exposure across U.S. mega-cap and large-cap companies.
Long operating history: SPY has traded since 1993, providing a long live-performance record through multiple market cycles.
Useful trading instrument: The fund is widely used for tactical asset allocation, hedging, and portfolio rebalancing.
Risks
Market concentration: Returns are dominated by U.S. large-cap equities and the largest index constituents.
No downside protection: SPY remains fully exposed to equity bear markets.
Higher cost than some peers: SPY’s expense ratio is higher than VOO and IVV, which may matter for long holding periods.
SPY can serve as a liquid U.S. equity sleeve in a diversified portfolio. Long-term buy-and-hold investors may prefer lower-cost S&P 500 ETFs, while traders may prefer SPY because of its market depth and options ecosystem.
Data sourced from Yahoo Finance’s chart endpoint via scripts/fetch_spy_etf.py. Re-run the script to update price data, historical returns, and risk metrics.