$57 Billion Inflows into SPYM as Investors Favor Lower Fees Over SPY
In 2026, investors poured $56.75 billion into the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM), with over $5.2 billion added in just one month. This surge reflects a growing preference for its low expense ratio of 0.02% compared to SPY's higher fee at 0.0945%, despite both tracking the same S&P 500 index. SPYM’s open-end structure allows it to reinvest dividends immediately and engage in securities lending, offering better compounding over time than SPY, which is a unit investment trust with less flexibility on dividend handling. While SPY remains popular for its deep liquidity and tight bid-ask spreads—important for traders—the fee gap becomes more significant over long-term horizons. Vanguard’s VOO (0.02%) and iShares’ IVV (0.03%) also offer competitive fees, making them viable alternatives to SPYM as core S&P 500 holdings. The choice among these funds often depends on brokerage access and commission-free trading availability.
