SPY Bleeds $30 Billion As VOO, IVV Muscle Past It

SPY Bleeds $30 Billion As VOO, IVV Muscle Past It—But Traders Still Can't Quit It

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY), the first ETF introduced in the U.S., has received a harsh wake-up call in 2025. While the red-hot S&P 500 index is soaring, SPY is enduring one of its largest redemptions in history, with $30.2 billion in redemptions year-to-date.

According to FactSet cited by etf.com, this almost equals its record $32.3 billion loss in 2015.

SPY is up 10% this year so far. Check its prices in real-time.

In the meantime, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) is on fire. It’s already collected more than $80 billion year-to-date, while July alone saw $12.5 billion. This newfound popularity has pushed assets in VOO to surpass those of SPY. This change wasn’t subtle. In February, VOO officially eclipsed SPY to become the world’s largest ETF, thanks in large part to its ultra-low fee (0.03%) and Vanguard’s retail-friendly system, including its effortless ETF share-class conversions.

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IVV Lurks Behind VOO

The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:IVV) is nipping at the heels of VOO. With over $ 17 billion in inflows this year, it now has slightly more AUM than SPY. It’s 0.03% yearly charge and open-end design make it a good choice for long-term investors.

It’s not all about fees. During turbulent times early in the year (such as April), retail-focused ETFs like VOO and SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPLG) continued to see steady inflows, whereas institutional-focused funds like SPY and IVV saw large outflows, according to data from CFRA.

So Why Do Traders Still Hang On To SPY?

Liquidity is unmatched. SPY trades approximately 55 million shares a day on average, making it a liquidity monster, well beyond VOO or IVV on the Nasdaq.

Boasting the deepest options market in the ETF universe according to ETF.com, SPY is the choice for strategies from risk hedging to short-term speculation, according to ETFdb.com and Nasdaq.

It’s 30+ years old, entrenched in trading models, algorithms, and institutional routines. That stickiness is potent.

In brief, long-term investors are fleeing to lower-cost, structurally superior ETFs such as VOO and IVV. Short-term traders aren’t abandoning SPY anytime soon. It is their liquidity behemoth, trading crucible, and tried-and-true workhorse.