The bigger, the better? Some investors could think so when it comes to S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) index funds.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) ranks as the largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) by ***** ets under management (AUM). This low-cost ETF has earned its popularity with investors through the years. But is it still the best S&P 500 ETF you can own?
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Two other S&P 500 funds are breathing down the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF's neck in the AUM ranking -- the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: IVV) and the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: SPY). The State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: SPYM) isn't too far behind. Each of these ETFs is a strong contender and gives Vanguard's fund a real run for its money.
These funds share much in common. They all seek to track the performance of the S&P 500 index and own the same large-cap stocks. Their returns are, unsurprisingly, nearly identical.

#nysemkt

VOO is the ******* umed default for 73 million Trump Accounts, but SPYM's 0.02% fee undercuts VOO's 0.03% for an essentially identical fund.
A 1 basis point fee gap yields roughly $9 extra per account over 18 years, but scaled across 73 million accounts the aggregate savings become material.
Switching from VOO to SPYM inside a Trump Account triggers no capital gains tax and requires only a ticker change at the custodian.
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The Trump Account proposal would auto-open a tax-advantaged brokerage account for every child in America, and Washington is reportedly steering all ~73 million of those default accounts into a single S&P 500 index fund with a fee cap of 0.10%. The politically obvious pick is Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:VOO), the retail investor's household name for cheap large-cap exposure. VOO owns the same 500 companies as every other S&P tracker, charges next to nothing, and has become the default answer whenever someone asks where to park long-horizon money. If the government picks VOO, the choice is uncontroversial. A cheaper, functionally identical option is also available.

#identical

VOO crossed $1 trillion first in ETF history, charging 3 basis points against SPY's 9.45 for identical S&P 500 exposure.
SPYM charges just 0.02%, undercutting even VOO, but its $916 million ****** et base delivers wider spreads and nearly no options coverage.
SPY's 75% five-year gain means taxable account holders face a capital gains bill that could erase years of fee savings by switching.
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The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) has been the default S&P 500 vehicle since January 23, 1993, and its $9.8 billion-plus ****** et base reflects three decades of habit, deep options liquidity, and institutional inertia. SPY holders own it for a reason: it is the most-traded ETF on the planet, and for anyone running short-dated options or executing block trades, that liquidity is a genuine feature. But a quieter rival is about to hit a milestone SPY never will at current fees. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:VOO) holds $1.03 trillion in ****** ets, making it the first ETF to cross the trillion-dollar mark, and it does so while charging SPY holders roughly one-third of the fee for the same 500 stocks.

#options

VOO crossed $1 trillion first in ETF history, charging 3 basis points against SPY's 9.45 for identical S&P 500 exposure.
SPYM charges just 0.02%, undercutting even VOO, but its $916 million ****** et base delivers wider spreads and nearly no options coverage.
SPY's 75% five-year gain means taxable account holders face a capital gains bill that could erase years of fee savings by switching.
Don't wait: the ****** yst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just revealed his top 10 AI stocks. See the full list FREE now.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) has been the default S&P 500 vehicle since January 23, 1993, and its $9.8 billion-plus ****** et base reflects three decades of habit, deep options liquidity, and institutional inertia. SPY holders own it for a reason: it is the most-traded ETF on the planet, and for anyone running short-dated options or executing block trades, that liquidity is a genuine feature. But a quieter rival is about to hit a milestone SPY never will at current fees. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:VOO) holds $1.03 trillion in ****** ets, making it the first ETF to cross the trillion-dollar mark, and it does so while charging SPY holders roughly one-third of the fee for the same 500 stocks.

#holders #first #liquidity #spym

Investors added $191.3 billion to US-listed ETFs in July, pushing year-to-date inflows toward $1.3 trillion.
The AI trade stayed volatile through the month, but the broader stock market held near all-time highs. Bonds went the other way, with the 30-year Treasury yield climbing to a 19-year high.
By category, US equity ETFs led the way with $75 billion of inflows. International equity ETFs followed with almost $46 billion, then US fixed income with more than $39 billion. Leveraged ETFs took in $10.5 billion, and alternatives gathered $6.3 billion.
At the individual fund level, the usual broad-market suspects sat at the top. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) picked up nearly $20 billion, followed by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) with $14 billion and the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM) with more than $8 billion.
Outside of the big broad-market US funds, AI-fueled ETFs dominated. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) picked up $6.9 billion, the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (SOXL) added $6.9 billion, the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) took in $6.2 billion, the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) gathered $4.8 billion, and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) brought in $4.5 billion.

#semiconductor #market #spdr #inflows

A top Bloomberg ***** yst has a bold idea for Warren Buffett. Eric Balchunas says the investor should give his Berkshire Hathaway shares to Trump Accounts, the new government investment accounts for American children.
Balchunas shared the idea on Tuesday. Buffett, 95, plans to give away his remaining Berkshire stake, worth about $140 billion, by the end of 2034.
Trump Accounts launched on July 4. They were created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a new tax law. Every eligible child born between 2025 and 2028 gets a $1,000 deposit from the Treasury.
Families can add up to $5,000 per year. The money sits in an S&P 500 index fund called SPYM by default. The Treasury picked Robinhood and BNY to run the app and the accounts.
Balchunas, the senior ETF ***** yst at Bloomberg Intelligence, thinks the accounts are a natural match for Buffett. Almost all of Buffett's wealth is Berkshire stock. He has also promised to give more than 99% of it away.

#buffett #balchunas #give

This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com.
At first glance, broad-market funds seemingly offer similar exposure to the exact same underlying stocks. Various **** et managers offer several heavyweight funds that claim to capture the broader market. However, subtle differences in how these products are built, priced, and managed mean they are far from interchangeable.
Many funds track the same indexes.Structural and management differences such as fee structures and composition make products far from interchangeable.
Investors can potentially optimize their portfolios by choosing between different funds for the same index. For example, selecting SPY for high liquidity and active trading or SPYM for cost-efficient, long-term holding.
State Street is the first firm to offer distinct ETFs tracking all three major U.S. benchmarks—the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq-100—providing a complete suite of index-based strategies for investors.

SPYM charges 0.02% vs VOO's 0.03%, and its $87 share price makes whole-share Roth IRA investing far easier than VOO's $681.
Switching from VOO or IVV in taxable accounts triggers capital gains taxes that erase the 1-basis-point fee advantage for years.
SPYM crossed $150 billion in AUM after pulling in over $32 billion in net inflows in 2025, despite low name recognition among investors.
Don't wait: the ***** yst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just revealed his top 10 AI stocks. See the full list FREE now.
For a 28-year-old funding a Roth IRA at $7,000 a year, the choice between three S&P 500 ETFs comes down to a single basis point and a share price that fits a small contribution. The SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPYM) charges 0.02% annually and trades around $87 per share, which makes whole-share investing easier in a small Roth than Vanguard's flagship, which trades at roughly $681 per share. SPYM, formerly trading under the SPLG ticker, was rebranded in 2025 as part of State Street's portfolio ETF lineup.

With Trump Accounts set to officially launch on July 4, the US Treasury Department is detailing where the money in those accounts will be invested.
At launch, all funds in a Trump Account will be automatically invested in the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM), which tracks the performance of the S&P 500 index. That includes contributions by parents and others to the child's account.
That fund was selected as the default investment because it is the lowest-cost S&P 500 ETF, according to the Treasury Department, with an expense ratio of only 2 basis points, while also offering broad exposure to the US stock market. Key to the Treasury's selection of funds was that the vehicles were the lowest cost for the public.
Other low-cost index ETFs eligible for Trump accounts include iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 1500 Composite Stock Market ETF (SPTM), and iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF (ITOT).
In the coming months, the Treasury Department says parents will be able to choose how to allocate funds across other investment options. Until then, all contributions will be invested by default in the State Street fund.

President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act introduced a new savings and investing vehicle for families known as Trump Accounts.
They function as a type of tax-deferred savings account for those under 18, and they come with a starter package for any U.S. citizen born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028: a $1,000 deposit from the government. The goal is to allow young people access to a tax-deferred investment account that will earn and grow, and later be used for things like college or buying a first home.
All funds in the Trump Account, including contributions by parents and others, will be invested in the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM), which tracks the performance of the S&P 500 index.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, other low-cost index ETFs eligible for Trump Accounts include iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 1500 Composite Stock Market ETF (SPTM), and iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF (BITO39.SA).
Here's how Trump Accounts work, and how they compare to other tax-advantaged savings vehicles available to families.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) has crossed $1 trillion in ****** ets, becoming the first ETF ever to reach the mark. The fund pushed past the line Tuesday on the back of a roughly $1.7 billion single-day inflow.

VOO became the world's largest ETF in February 2025 when it overtook the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), and it hasn't looked back since. It has pulled in roughly $69 billion this year, more than any other fund, while SPY has seen net outflows. An 11% rise in the S&P 500 has lifted its ****** ets the rest of the way.

The ETF charges 0.03% a year, the same as the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and a third of SPY's 0.09%, but the fee alone doesn't explain its lead, since IVV is just as cheap and has a longer track record.

One big advantage VOO has is Vanguard itself. The firm built its name on low-cost indexing under Jack Bogle, and the brand still draws buy-and-hold investors who open Vanguard accounts, buy Vanguard funds, and rarely trade.

VOO is the first ETF to cross $1 trillion, but it almost certainly won't be the last. SPY and IVV hold $787 billion and $860 billion in ****** ets, respectively, putting both within range of the milestone eventually.

As for what comes next for VOO, $2 trillion is the next big round number, though it will likely take years to get there. Either way, VOO's hold on the AUM crown looks solid, with one fund worth keeping an eye on: the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM), the no. 2 fund for inflows this year at $37 billion. It's still tiny next to VOO at $150 billion in ****** ets and won't threaten the crown anytime soon, but its low fee and quick growth make it worth watching.

For now, VOO stands alone, the first ETF to cross a line that not long ago looked out of reach for the whole industry.
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