Over the full period, SPY compounded at +11.6% a year and RSP at +11.3% a year.
SPY (State Street® SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust) is the cap-weight S&P 500 and RSP (Invesco S&P 500® Equal Weight ETF) is the equal-weight S&P 500. This page tracks the difference in price, risk, and relative strength, and refreshes weekly.
Performance & Risk Snapshot
SPY vs RSP · adjusted close data, as of September 4, 2026
| Metric | SPY
Cap-weight S&P 500 | RSP
Equal-weight S&P 500 |
|---|
| Total return |
| 1 week | +0.1% | −0.8% |
| 1 month | +0.2% | +0.2% |
| 3 months | +4.7% | +5.8% |
| 1 year | +20.0% | +18.3% |
| 3 years annualized | +21.1% | +15.4% |
| 5 years annualized | +12.8% | +8.8% |
| Full period annualized, since 2003 | +11.6% | +11.3% |
| Risk (trailing 3Y) |
| Volatility annualized, Yang–Zhang | 15.2% | 13.9% |
| Max drawdown | −18.8% | −17.8% |
| Sharpe ratio | 1.26 | 1.03 |
| Sortino ratio | 1.85 | 1.51 |
| Calmar ratio | 1.13 | 0.86 |
| Trend (price vs its own SMA) |
| Price vs 10-month SMA regime | Above | Above |
| Price vs 13-week SMA intermediate | Above | Above |
| Cost & income |
| Expense ratio | 0.095% | 0.200% |
| Dividend yield TTM | 1.0% | 1.5% |
| Assets under management | $805B | $100B |
| Relationship |
| Correlation to each other daily, 3Y | 0.86 |
| RSP beta to SPY | 0.79 |
| Top-10 holdings weight | 37.8% | 3.2% |
How to read this. The snapshot table starts with a 0.86 correlation between SPY and RSP over the trailing three years, with 15.2% volatility for SPY and 13.9% for RSP. The same three-year window shows max drawdowns of 18.8% for SPY and 17.8% for RSP.
This week
SPY rose 0.1% and trades above its regime trend and above its intermediate trend, while RSP fell 0.8% and also trades above its regime trend and above its intermediate trend. RSP relative to SPY fell 0.9%, crossed below its intermediate trend this week, and sits in the middle of its 12-month range. SPY is 1.0% below its August 13, 2026 high, and RSP 1.7% below its August 14, 2026 high.
RSP/SPY ratio
0.284
12-mo range 0.272 to 0.298
Ratio, 1 week
−0.9%
week over week
SPY from high
−1.0%
from its August 13, 2026 high
RSP from high
−1.7%
from its August 14, 2026 high
Concentration
SPY places 37.8% in its top 10 holdings, while RSP places 3.2%.
Top 10 Holdings & Weights
Share of fund assets in each of the ten largest positions
SPY top 10
Top 10 = 37.8% of the fund
NVDA8.08%
AAPL7.03%
MSFT5.69%
AMZN3.84%
GOOGL3.01%
AVGO2.65%
GOOG2.40%
META1.90%
MU1.63%
TSLA1.56%
RSP top 10
Top 10 = 3.2% of the fund
MRNA0.58%
VEEV0.33%
ZBRA0.31%
CRL0.29%
DASH0.29%
CRM0.28%
GPN0.27%
PANW0.27%
EXPE0.27%
WDAY0.27%
Growth of $100
SPY compounded at +21.1% a year over three years and +11.6% a year over the full period. RSP compounded at +15.4% a year over three years and +11.3% a year over the full period.
Max historyMONTHLY · MAX HISTORY
RSP / SPY Ratio
The ratio tracks RSP relative to SPY, and a rising line means RSP is leading SPY. The ratio sits below its 10-month average and below its 13-week average, and the near-term trend favors SPY.
Max historyMONTHLY · 10M SMA
Last 5 yearsWEEKLY · 13W SMA
Where the ratio stands
Full-range percentile
2th
RSP/SPY full history
5-year percentile
11th
within last 5 years
Z-score
−2.28
vs full-history mean
RSP relative to SPY sits in the 2nd percentile of full history and the 11th percentile of the last five years. Its z-score is -2.28.
Rolling Correlation (RSP vs SPY)
The latest 126-day correlation between SPY and RSP is 0.78. A lower reading means the two funds are moving less tightly together.
RSP – SPY daily-return correlationWEEKLY · 5Y · 126D WINDOW
Rolling Volatility
The latest 126-day volatility reading is 14.0% for SPY and 12.9% for RSP.
Annualized realized volatility (Yang–Zhang)WEEKLY · 5Y · 126D WINDOW
Drawdown
Over the trailing three years, SPY posted a max drawdown of 18.8% and RSP 17.8%.
Drawdown from prior peak (dashed lines mark the 3Y and 5Y max drawdown)DAILY · 5Y
Time underwater
SPY longest underwater
52 mo
2007 to 2012
RSP longest underwater
44 mo
2007 to 2011
SPY spent 52 months (2007 to 2012) below its prior peak, and RSP 44 months (2007 to 2011).
Rolling Beta
RSP carries a latest 126-day beta of 0.66 to SPY.
RSP beta to SPYWEEKLY · 5Y · 126D WINDOW
Upside / Downside Capture
Over full common history, monthly returns, RSP participated in 105% of SPY's up-market moves and 109% of SPY's down-market moves. The capture ratio is 0.97.
Upside capture
105%
RSP vs SPY, up months, full period
Downside capture
109%
RSP vs SPY, down months, full period
Capture ratio
0.97
up ÷ down, full period
Beyond the price
Cost. RSP's 0.200% expense ratio runs 0.105 points above SPY's 0.095%. Turnover. Equal weighting forces a periodic rebalance, so RSP carries higher turnover than SPY's near-static book. Volatility. Over the trailing three years RSP realized 13.9% against SPY's 15.2%.
Where these fit at Quantlake
Quantlake builds ETF exposure through Classic and Smart model portfolios, which hold the cap-weight core directly rather than an equal-weight tilt. Discover which model aligns with your Behavioral Risk profile.
Related
Definitions
Total return: price change plus reinvested dividends, using adjusted-close prices.
Annualized volatility (Yang–Zhang): spread of returns scaled to one year; the Yang–Zhang estimator uses the open, high, low, and close of each bar, so it is more efficient than a close-to-close estimate.
Maximum drawdown: the largest peak-to-trough decline over the period.
Sharpe ratio: return earned per unit of total volatility.
Sortino ratio: like Sharpe, but penalizes only downside volatility.
Calmar ratio: annualized return divided by the worst drawdown.
Trend filters (regime / intermediate / tactical): moving-average timeframes in the Quantlake taxonomy: the 10-month average marks the regime (long-term) trend, the 13-week the intermediate trend, and the 20-day the tactical trend. A price or ratio above its average is an uptrend on that horizon, below it a downtrend.
Correlation: co-movement between two return streams, from −1 to +1.
Beta: sensitivity to a reference; a beta of 2 moves about twice a given reference move.
Relative-strength ratio: one fund's price divided by another; a rising ratio means the numerator is outperforming.
Upside / downside capture: the share of the benchmark's up (down) moves the fund reproduces; a capture ratio above 1 is favorable.
The Bottom Line
SPY and RSP have delivered similar full-period compound returns, but the recent relative-strength trend favors SPY. RSP has carried lower recent and three-year volatility, with participation of 105% in SPY's up markets and 109% in its down markets.
Romain Gandon
CEO, Quantlake
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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