At a glance
44% of RSP’s and SPY’s holdings overlap by weight, with 502 securities in common out of 504 and 503. RSP is an ordinary open-end ETF and SPY a unit investment trust. SPY costs less: 0.0945% a year against 0.2% for RSP, or $95 against $200 on every $100,000. RSP has $96.47B in assets and SPY $781.19B; over the past 12 months RSP paid out 1.45% of its price and SPY 1.01%, both quarterly. Over the past year RSP returned +18.9% and SPY +11.5% with distributions reinvested; over five years, +8.4% and +11.7% a year. In the 2022 bear market RSP fell 21.4% at its worst and SPY 24.5%; RSP was back at its earlier high 16 months after the low, SPY 14 months.
Key differences
| RSP | SPY | |
|---|---|---|
| Fund | Invesco S&P 500® Equal Weight ETF | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust |
| Issuer | Invesco | SPDR (State Street) |
| Structure | Open-end ETF | Unit investment trust |
| Type | Equal weight | S&P 500 |
| Launched | Apr 24, 2003 | Jan 22, 1993 |
| Expense ratio | 0.2% | 0.0945% |
| Cost a year on $100,000 | $200 | $95 |
| Net assets | $96.47B | $781.19B |
| Holdings | 504 | 503 |
| Ten largest positions | 2.6% | 36.4% |
| Yield (12 months) | 1.45% | 1.01% |
| Pays | quarterly | quarterly |
| Portfolio turnover | 27% a year | — |
| Price data from | Jun 6, 2005 | Oct 28, 1996 |
Structure and tax notes
- SPY: Organized as a unit investment trust: it cannot lend out its securities or reinvest dividends between payouts, which can create a small drag versus similar open-end ETFs.
Holdings and overlap
Overlap adds up, for every security both funds own, the smaller of its two weights: 100% would mean identical portfolios.
Largest holdings
| Holding | RSP | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA Corp | 0.19% | 7.52% |
| Apple Inc | 0.20% | 6.59% |
| Microsoft Corp | 0.23% | 4.30% |
| Amazon.com Inc | 0.22% | 3.62% |
| Alphabet Inc | 0.11% | 3.25% |
| Broadcom Inc | 0.20% | 2.77% |
| Alphabet Inc | 0.09% | 2.59% |
| Micron Technology Inc | 0.18% | 2.02% |
| Meta Platforms Inc | 0.19% | 1.92% |
| Tesla Inc | 0.16% | 1.84% |
| PayPal Holdings, Inc. | 0.27% | 0.06% |
| Bio-Techne Corp. | 0.27% | 0.02% |
The biggest differences in weight: NVIDIA Corp (0.2% in RSP, 7.5% in SPY); Apple Inc (0.2% in RSP, 6.6% in SPY); Microsoft Corp (0.2% in RSP, 4.3% in SPY).
By sector
| Sector | RSP | SPY | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | 9.7% | 35.2% | SPY +25.5 |
| Financials | 11.4% | 10.8% | RSP +0.6 |
| Industrials | 9.8% | 6.8% | RSP +3.0 |
| Communication services | 2.5% | 9.3% | SPY +6.8 |
| Consumer discretionary | 6.8% | 9.1% | SPY +2.3 |
| Health care | 5.4% | 7.1% | SPY +1.7 |
| Utilities | 4.5% | 1.9% | RSP +2.6 |
| Consumer staples | 4.5% | 4.4% | RSP +0.1 |
| Energy | 3.2% | 2.7% | RSP +0.5 |
| Real estate | 3.0% | 1.3% | RSP +1.7 |
| Materials | 2.6% | 1.3% | RSP +1.3 |
Returns
$10,000 put into RSP on Jun 30, 2005 was worth $79,215 on Nov 2, 2026, and in SPY $93,063 (+10.2% and +11.0% a year). That is as far back as the price data for both goes.
| 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RSP price data to Nov 2, 2026 | +18.9% | +18.3% | +8.4% | +12.5% |
| RSP official prospectus, to Dec 31, 2025 | +11.25% | — | +10.25% | +11.46% |
| SPY price data to Nov 2, 2026 | +11.5% | +21.9% | +11.7% | +15.4% |
| SPY official prospectus | +17.73% | — | +14.28% | +14.66% |
Calendar years
| Year | RSP | SPY | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | +16.2% * | +11.2% * | RSP +5.0 |
| 2025 | +11.2% | +17.7% | SPY +6.5 |
| 2024 | +12.8% | +24.9% | SPY +12.1 |
| 2023 | +13.7% | +26.2% | SPY +12.5 |
| 2022 | -11.6% | -18.2% | RSP +6.5 |
| 2021 | +29.4% | +28.8% | RSP +0.7 |
| 2020 | +12.7% | +18.4% | SPY +5.7 |
| 2019 | +28.9% | +31.2% | SPY +2.3 |
| 2018 | -7.8% | -4.5% | SPY +3.3 |
| 2017 | +18.5% | +21.7% | SPY +3.2 |
Downturns and recovery
| RSP | SPY | |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | −59.2% at the worst; back at its high 23 months after the low | −55.2% at the worst; back at its high 41 months after the low |
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | −39% at the worst; back at its high 8 months after the low | −33.7% at the worst; back at its high 5 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | −21.4% at the worst; back at its high 16 months after the low | −24.5% at the worst; back at its high 14 months after the low |
| Worst fall in the price data | −59.9% (Jul 19, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009) | −55.2% (Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009) |
Income
| Year | RSP | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $179 | $124 |
| 2024 | $168 | $149 |
| 2023 | $183 | $174 |
| 2022 | $157 | $133 |
| 2021 | $163 | $153 |
| 2020 | $181 | $177 |
| 2019 | $214 | $224 |
| 2018 | $183 | $191 |
Costs
SPY charges 0.0945% a year and RSP 0.2%: on $100,000 that is $106 a year less with SPY ($528 on $500,000). The fee comes out of each fund's assets, so it is already in the returns above.
| Cost of $10,000 (SEC example) | 1 yr | 3 yrs | 5 yrs | 10 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RSP | $20 | $64 | $113 | $255 |
| SPY | — | — | — | — |