Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF has overtaken State Street Global Advisors’ offering as the world’s biggest ETF.
The Vanguard 500 ETF (VOO) is the world’s largest ETF by assets under management as of February 18, surpassing the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). VOO has $632 billion in assets as of February 18 according to Bloomberg data while SPY has $630 billion.
“This is a tremendous milestone for Vanguard, the ETF industry, and is a sign of growing retail adoption. For many investors, their first instinct is to turn to the largest ETF,” Todd Rosenbluth, VettaFi head of research, said.
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This is a key milestone for the industry as SPY has long been credited with being both the largest and first U.S. ETF. SPY was the first U.S.-listed ETF when it launched 32 years ago, giving the fund a significant first-mover advantage.
VOO was launched in 2010, nearly 17 years after SPY. However, Vanguard’s S&P 500 has been gaining market share in recent years. VOO set a record in 2024 for net inflows for a single ETF with $116 billion.
VOO has a net expense ratio of 0.03%, which is less than SPY’s 0.0945% fee. This is a significant differentiator between the funds as each ETF provides access to the same index, the S&P 500.
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The third-biggest U.S. ETF by assets is the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) with $609 billion as of February 18, according to Bloomberg data. Like VOO, IVV charges just 0.03%. IVV also had a strong showing in 2024, bringing in $87 billion in net flows compared to VOO’s $116 billion. Notably, while VOO is the new ETF heavyweight, IVV has also gained on SPY in the past year.
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