Latest Market Data
| Metric |
Current value |
| Regular market price (USD) |
$776.34 |
| Market-price date |
2026-08-14 (US Eastern Time) |
| 52-week range (USD) |
$629.28 – $779.37 |
| 1-year adjusted-close return |
+21.99% |
| Annualised daily volatility (1 year) |
12.87% |
Source: Yahoo Finance, retrieved 15 August 2026. The regular market price is an exchange-market price and is not the ETF NAV. The rolling one-year return uses the first and last adjusted close in the retrieved daily series. Annualised volatility is the sample standard deviation of daily log returns multiplied by √252.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)
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.
- Valuation sensitivity: Elevated S&P 500 valuations can reduce future expected returns.
Comparison vs. VOO
| Feature |
SPY |
VOO |
| Sponsor |
State Street SPDR |
Vanguard |
| Inception |
1993 |
2010 |
| Expense Ratio |
0.0945% |
0.03% |
| Structure |
Unit Investment Trust |
Open-End ETF |
| Best Fit |
Trading, options, tactical liquidity |
Long-term low-cost core holding |
| Benchmark |
S&P 500 Index |
S&P 500 Index |
Portfolio Role
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.